Late Han Zhao Tang

Chapter 174 Dingxiang has been conquered, Tuoba is serving

In June, Chanhewu.

The graceful figure in a plain robe lazily leaned on the bed, with a hint of fatigue on her dignified and graceful face. Her eyes, which were once full of intelligence, looked at the child sleeping beside her, and a touch of tenderness flashed across them.

This woman was none other than Zhang Yu's wife, Wang Ji. Although she had not seen Zhang Yu for two years, Wang Ji's appearance had not changed at all. On the contrary, because she had been pregnant, she had a more mature charm, which was even more intense...

Stroking her child's fair and tender face with her delicate fingers, Wang Ji smiled and murmured, "Your father is heartless, so you have to stay with your mother today."

"Madam~"

Hongniang brought the soup in and saw the little boy was already asleep. She lowered her voice and said, "Young Master, are you asleep? I cooked some fish soup today."

Wang Ji stretched lazily, his slim-fitting plain robe showing off his figure. He smiled and said, "Leave it alone for now. If you wake Mu Mo up, I'm afraid he will cry for a long time again!"

Hongniang placed the fish soup on the table, rubbed Wang Ji's shoulders and back, and said, "Your husband is not at home, but you have worked hard, Madam."

Wang Ji snorted coldly and said, "What can he do to help me at home? He hasn't even given the child a name yet, I'm afraid he has forgotten about me!"

Hongniang said softly, "The world is in turmoil, wars are raging everywhere, it's not easy for you, my dear."

Hearing this, Wang Ji's expression eased and he said, "It's good to let him work hard outside. If he can build a foundation, you and I can be together with him sooner in the future."

"It's natural!"

Hongniang smiled and said, "When the young master grows up, if he can be as brave as you, he can inherit your foundation."

Wang Jiqian placed her hand on Hongniang's and said with a smile, "When you are reunited with your husband, spend more time with him and see if you can give birth to a son, who can keep Mumo company."

"Thank you, ma'am!" Hongniang replied with a red face.

"correct!"

Wang Ji seemed to remember something and asked, "Where is Li Changshi?"

"First time in the dock!"

"Please choose some suitable clothes for me. We need to go to the lobby to discuss matters later!"

Wang Ji propped himself up from the couch and said, "If Mu Mo wakes up, feed him some fish soup and be careful of the fish bones."

"promise!"

With Hongniang's help, Wang Ji first changed into appropriate clothes and put on some simple makeup. After Zhang Ji sent someone to call her, she walked towards the lobby.

In the hall, Zhang Ji, with white hair on his temples, was sitting on a couch with a cane, while Li Song and Shi Yi were sitting on the right. When Wang Ji arrived at the hall, Li Suyi followed.

"Father!"

"Shu Lan, Su Yi, sit down!"

Zhang Ji pointed to the seat on the left with his cane and said, "A few days ago, Ji'an sent a letter to Shiyi, asking Bosong to find a way to occupy Dingxiang to echo the troops of Shangdang, so as to facilitate the north-south advance and plot against Taiyuan. This matter is both a public matter and a family matter of our Zhang family, so I asked you to come and discuss it."

After a pause, Zhang Ji looked at Wang Ji and said, "Shu Lan is knowledgeable and experienced. If you have any ideas, you can tell me."

Since Wang Ji arrived at Chanhewu, she has raised many issues and corrected them one by one, making Chanhewu a new place. Zhang Ji has become more and more respectful of this daughter-in-law from a prominent family and would ask Wang Ji for her opinion on many things.

Wang Ji nodded, then looked at everyone and asked, "How many troops can be mobilized today?"

"The Ji'an troops, the two Xiongnu tribes, and our 700 cavalry can mobilize about 3,000 infantry and cavalry." Li Song said.

"The three divisions led by Chanhewu and Shiyi can produce a total of a thousand infantry and cavalry!" Zhang Ji said, "In my opinion, the troops of Dingxiang County are not as strong as ours, so it is better to attack and kill the county governor Hu Qi."

Li Song coughed and said, "Although 4,000 infantry and cavalry are more than Dingxiang County, I am afraid that Yanmen Governor Guo Yu will send troops to help Hu Qi. And if we attack and kill the governor in the name of Chanhewu, it may cause criticism for Ji'an."

Wang Ji thought for a moment and said, "What Bosong said makes sense. Ji'an wants to take Taiyuan as his base and use Bingzhou to accomplish great things. If we raise an army under the name of Ji'an now, it may make Taiyuan and Yanmen counties alert."

"Then who should be named after?" Zhang Ji asked.

"This~" Li Song was in trouble.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Li Suyi plucked up her courage and said, "My brother is the chief historian and a close confidant of Ji'an. Everyone on the border knows your face. But no one knows my identity. I can use another name to recruit the scattered Han and Hu people on the border and raise an army to attack and kill Hu Qi."

"In terms of martial arts, Su Yi is excellent in riding and shooting, and is not inferior to men. But it may be inconvenient for a woman to raise an army," said Zhang Ji.

"In disguise!"

Wang Ji thought for a moment and came up with an idea. He said, "Su Yi can pretend to be the commander-in-chief, and the people who can act can be Shi Yi and Bo Song. If they can take the lead in ambush and kill Hu Qi and annex Dingxiang County, even if Guo Yu leads his troops to attack, our army will not be afraid of him."

"Then how do we ambush and kill Hu Qi?" Li Song asked.

"Suyi and Shiyi have raised an army, and Bosong said that there are bandits rebelling, and asked Hu Qi to lead troops for support. When Hu Qi leads his troops to arrive, you can attack together with Shiyi, defeat Hu Qi, and enter the counties." Wang Ji suggested.

Li Song seemed to be thinking about something, and said: "After defeating Hu Qi, I can surrender to Su Yi, and then plunder Taiyuan and Yanmen in the south. And Ji'an can lead his troops into Taiyuan County in the name of suppressing the bandits and pacifying the countryside..."

"Almost!" Wang Ji nodded and said, "If Ji'an uses the strategy of passing through Guo as a pretext to attack Guo, he can annex Taiyuan. As for Yanmen County, since the prefect is Guo Yu, Ji'an needs to take care of it himself."

Li Song looked at Zhang Ji and said, "Uncle, I think Shu Lan's plan is feasible. We can first trick Hu Qi out and occupy Dingxiang under another name. Then we can recruit Han and Hu Dingzhuang, and then we can respond to Ji'an in the north."

Zhang Ji hesitated for a moment, looked at Li Suyi, and asked, "Raising an army is a serious matter. If you are not careful, you may be injured by swords and knives. Do you really want to raise an army?"

Li Suyi's pretty face showed a determined look, and she said, "Ji'an wants to accomplish great things, and I, as his wife and concubine, must help. Now that my brother and Shi Yi are running around, and my uncle and Shu Lan are giving me advice, I think it's doable."

As he spoke, Li Suyi looked at everyone and said, "A hundred miles away from Chanhewu, there is a Tuoba tribe that has migrated south. It has more than a thousand tribes. Its leader is Tuoba Jiefen. Because they have just arrived in the southern border, the people of the tribe are hungry and cold, and they make a living by selling horses. Now if we can occupy Dingxiang, we can send people to persuade them to migrate south and use them as the vanguard."

"it is good!"

Zhang Ji nodded seriously and said, "I have a disability, but Shu Lan has profound knowledge, so I need Shu Lan to give me more advice. Su Yi has raised an army under a pseudonym, so I need to pay more attention to the weapons."

"It's just for Ji'an. It's quite polite of you to say that, father!" Wang Ji said with a smile.

In fact, if Zhang Ji had no one around him, it would be difficult for him to agree to Li Suyi's pseudonym to start a rebellion. After all, although Li Song and Shi Yi assisted him, it was still dangerous. The reason why he didn't choose someone else as the leader was that only family members could be trusted in such a major event as starting a rebellion.

Now that they had a plan for the uprising, Shi Yi and Li Song began to plan for the matter.

On June 20th, Li Suyi changed his name to Zhang An, recruited more than a hundred exiled Han and Hu people, led the people of Chanhewu to revolt, and plundered the Lan clan to the north.

Li Song led a thousand cavalrymen to the south, and requested Hu Qi to lead his troops to support him, claiming that the bandit Zhang An had used the Xianbei Hu cavalrymen to cause chaos. Hu Qi was worried that if Zhang An defeated Li Song, it would cause chaos in Dingxiang County, so he led 700 cavalrymen to support him.

On his way to provide support, Hu Qi was ambushed by Zhang An and Shi Yi. Hu Qi was killed on the spot, and all his troops surrendered to Zhang An.

Seeing Hu Qi dead, Li Song surrendered to Zhang An. Zhang An got the surrender of everyone, so he pursued the victory and led his troops to capture the only three counties left in Dingxiang, Shanwu, Wucheng and Zhongling, and named himself the governor of Dingxiang.

For a time, Zhang An, the bandit leader of Dingxiang, led his men to attack and kill the county governor Hu Qi, and subdued Li Song, the chief secretary of the General Du Liao, and his name became famous throughout the northern border.

In July, Yanmen prefect Guo Wei learned the news and wanted to lead his troops to attack the rebel leader Zhang An.

Shanwu, Zhang An military camp.

Inside the big tent, Zhang An was sitting on a chair. He was not a big man but was wearing armor. His pretty face, which used to be made up, was now bare-faced. His voice was deliberately deep and muffled, making it hard to tell whether he was a man or a woman.

"Tuoba Pi Gu pays respect to General Zhang!"

Tuoba Pi Gu looked at the handsome Zhang An and said with a bow.

After ten days of adaptation, Zhang An already had the qualities of a leader. He looked calm and said in a low voice, "Did your father agree to send troops?"

Zhang An's strange voice did not arouse Tuoba Pi Gu's curiosity. He just thought it was Zhang An's unique voice.

Tuoba Pi Gu said: "General, if you can give us pasture, we are willing to serve you. If we go on a long expedition, you need to pay money and food to our army, and give us some Han goods."

Tuoba Pigu was the eldest son of Tuoba Jiefen, and his younger brother was Tuoba Liwei.

The Tuoba tribe today is not the Tuoba tribe that dominated the south of the desert a hundred years later, nor is it the Tuoba family that established the Northern Wei regime. It is just a small or medium-sized tribe with more than a thousand clans.

Due to disasters in the northern border, Tuoba Jiefen moved south to the south of the desert under the guidance of others for a living. When they arrived in the south of the desert, the grasslands north and south of Yinshan Mountain were almost monopolized by most of the Xianbei tribe, so the Tuoba tribe had to continue moving south to graze in the mountains outside Dingxiang County.

Zhang An sent Shiyi to the Tuoba tribe to reach an agreement with Tuoba Jiefen, in which he granted fertile pasture as a condition for the Tuoba tribe to send troops to help.

Zhang An thought deeply about the pros and cons, and said in a deep voice: "The conditions mentioned before remain unchanged, but I hope your department will remember one thing. You are not allowed to rob Han people in Dingxiang County. If you rob Han people, those who kill or commit crimes will be put to death, and those who injure people or rob property will be punished."

Seeing that Zhang An's offer was generous, Tuoba Pi Gu said without hesitation: "Let's follow General Zhang's order."

"good!"

Seeing this, Zhang An's expression relaxed and he said, "In this case, our army wants to fight with Yanmen County now. I wonder how many troops you can send to help me?"

Tuoba Pi Gu said: "I can send out five hundred strong men now. If there is a crisis, I can send out a thousand cavalry to help the general."

"it is good!"

Zhang An chatted with Tuoba Pi Gu for a few more words, and then asked Shi Yi to send Tuoba Pi Gu out of the camp.

On the way, Tuoba Pi Gu said to Shi Yi, "Although General Zhang is not a big man, he is quite imposing. Your Excellency is a man of extraordinary military strategy. Now I am able to work for him. I wonder how General Zhang compares to you?"

Shi Yi smiled and said meaningfully: "The general's military strategy is far superior to mine. I am just a soldier under his command!"

"I'll wait and see!" Tuoba Pi Gu said with a smile.

Shiyi was already an excellent archer. After following Zhang Yu for many years, Shiyi had learned a lot of Han military tactics. Now Shiyi was far superior to most of the Xianbei people on the grassland in terms of military strategy. As the son of the tribal leader, Tuoba Pihu could not help but sigh when he saw that Shiyi was so outstanding, but he was working for the Han people.

"Book of Tang·Biography 1": Taizu Wufei Li, named Suyi... Taizu was in Shangdang, when the concubine and the empress were both in Canhewu. Dingxiang was poor, and the governor Hu Qi wanted to build a fortress. The empress said to the concubine: "The world is in trouble, the county officials are unkind, and your husband is far away in Shangdang. Now you need to raise the banner of rebellion to save yourself!"

The concubine agreed with this and therefore recruited some troops to join the expedition... At that time, Yanmen prefect Guo Wei launched an attack, and Shi Yi and Li Song repeatedly defeated his advance, and Shanwu, Wucheng and Zhongling all surrendered to him, and he was named prefect of Dingxiang.

(End of this chapter)