A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 292: The Good Guardian Hides Under the Nine Lands

Summer, June.

At the beacon tower of Qiwangling, Zhao Xin's eyes suddenly widened.

To the northeast of the Daquanling beacon tower, three straight black dragons were tearing through the sky.

"Wolf smoke!"

"Three pillars of wolf smoke!" Zhao Xin shouted at the top of his lungs.

Zhao An, who came from the same village, climbed up from the bottom of the beacon tower and rushed to the edge of the rammed earth beacon tower. Sure enough, smoke of war was rising from Daquanling, thirty miles away!

"The last time we heard three smoke signals, Pingyao fell. The last time we heard three smoke signals, Yuci fell."

"Could it be that Jiexiu City will be lost this time?" Zhao An swallowed and sweat broke out.

Zhao Xin, the beacon leader, didn't care about that anymore. "Hurry up, light three smoke signals!"

The beacon towers of the Tang Dynasty were called "sui" when burning smoke during the day and "feng" when setting fire at night. There were many beacon towers all over Hedong, one every thirty miles, which was the fastest way to transmit military intelligence.

If there is no warning every day, a beacon will be lit on the first night to announce safety.

The beacon tower on Qi Wang Ridge is located on Qi Wang Ridge behind Yindi Pass. Legend has it that King Gao Huan of Qi once stationed his troops here, hence the name.

The beacon fort is not big, it is a rammed earth platform with a diameter of less than ten feet and a height of only a few feet.

There are usually five beacon guards. They are not soldiers, but local civilians conscripted by the prefecture and county to perform labor service, and they are on duty for ten days at a time.

Zhao Xin remembered the rules of lighting beacons.
Whenever bandits enter the country and have more than fifty cavalry and infantry but less than five hundred, one beacon should be lit. If information is obtained about the border affairs and there is smoke and dust, indicating that they are about to move south, two beacons should be lit.

If the remaining bandits are more than 500 but less than 3,000 in number, also light two torches.

Light three beacons. If the foreign bandits have more than 500 cavalry but less than 1,000 cavalry, and are known to be entering from the south, light three beacons. If the remaining bandits have more than 3,000 cavalry, light three beacons as well.

Only if the enemy is more than 10,000 people, set off four torches.

The smoke from beacons with two or more torches must be transmitted all the way to the capital.

Zhao Xin threw off his clothes, picked up the gong with his bare arms and struck it first, calling the other three people below to come up.

There are five people on duty at the beacon tower. Usually one person must be on duty on the tower, while the other person takes a rest below. The remaining three are responsible for farming, preparing firewood and grass, and patrolling.

Zhao An quickly brought in the wolf dung, wormwood, etc. that had been stored in the beacon tower.

Zhao Xin lit the fire stick,
Bluish-white smoke rose up, and he picked up the wet wool felt to cover it.

If you hold it in for a while and then open it, a large amount of accumulated thick smoke will rush into the sky.

The other three beacon guards also rushed back quickly and each performed their duties.

At the foot of Qiwangling,

At Yindi Pass, the town commander had already seen the wolf smoke rising from Daquanling, and then he saw the three wolf smokes from the beacon tower on Guanhouling.

"Beat the drums and wave the flags!"

Upon receiving the beacon signal, the old soldiers inside the pass quickly ran to the bell and drum tower, where twelve cowhide drums were placed side by side.

The old soldier picked up the drumstick and beat the war drum. He could use different drum sounds to convey military information.

The drumbeats shook the pass,

Colonels Qiu Shenyan and Li Dejiang, who were stationed inside the pass, also took action upon hearing the news.

"Come here, put on my armor!"

The rapid drumbeats represented an urgent military situation.

On the roof of the Baichi Fort, two crimson pennants were raised on top of the pine flagpole, representing the enemies from the north.

Li Dejiang, Qiu Shenyan, Cao Yi, and Ji Siwen, each of them put on armor, carried swords and bows, and came to the Cloud Hall to meet.

"Three smoke signals coming from the north."

"Maybe something happened in Jiexiu."

"It will probably take another half a day for the specific information to be delivered by express."

"The county lord will be fine in Lingshi."

A few people had a conversation,
The enemy situation is unclear, so for the time being we can only strengthen strategic alert and send more soldiers to defend the city.

Qiu Shenyan pressed the handle of his sword, "After two months of stalemate, things have become a little relaxed."

"Let's wait for news and see what the situation is."

Ji Siwen was more cautious. "We can immediately send a few riders to Lingshi City to inquire about the situation."

"also."

Lingshi City,
Li Yi looked at the latest information in his hand and couldn't help shaking his head.

Damn, these bald donkeys,
Why should monks get involved in these worldly affairs?

It would have been fine if they had not helped defend the city, but they actually collaborated with the enemy and even came up with the idea of using Buddhist banners to lower the Han army into the city and seize the gates.

The cause of the incident was that Jiexiu was out of food, and Longquan Temple had a lot of grain reserves. The governor Zhao Xun asked him to borrow 3,000 dan of grain, and promised to pay 10% interest on the loan, but they refused.

This group of bald donkeys who have forgotten their ancestors.

He had a stronger dissatisfaction with those bald men. In the past, he just thought that most of them were doing business and lending money, annexing land, and even having slaves and maids, and marrying wives and concubines.

But now I feel like these guys deserve to die.

But think about it, there was a monk in Hebei who rebelled before, proclaimed himself emperor, and made a nun his empress. This gives you an idea of what most monks of this era were like. The fragile balance of the battlefield was broken.

After Jiexiu City was broken, Xun Xiang also captured a lot of Jiexiu Tang troops, thus strengthening his strength.

They can also use Jiexiu City as a base to continue their invasion of the south.

Li Zhongwen of Zhangbi Fort is in a very difficult situation now. With only 3,000 troops, they were unable to defeat Xun Xiang and enter Jiexiu before. Now that Jiexiu is lost, he is even more isolated and helpless.

The only option is to send people to Lingshi for help.

"Send troops quickly to recapture Jiexiu?"

Li Yi threw Li Zhongwen's order aside.

He only had so few soldiers, and it was okay for him to barely guard the city passes. But going out to fight Xun Xiang in the field, or even changing the attack and defense and attacking the Han army's Jiexiu City, wasn't that courting death?

Li Yi doesn't think he is very good at leading troops.
Even though he often discussed military strategies with Li Jing and learned a little bit, he felt that what he had learned was just the basics.

I guess even if Li Jing comes, he may not take the risk to attack under the current circumstances, right?
Li Yi felt that fighting a war was sometimes similar to playing a game. First of all, you had to consider strategy, and then the number of troops.

An excellent general can use strategies and adjust military forces to gain advantages in local battlefields and then defeat the enemy.

It is rare to hear someone say that they must use the minority to defeat the majority.

The premise of defeating a larger force with a smaller one is to fight in a continuous mobile manner and gain local advantages.

It is like the oblique attack tactics that many famous generals are good at using. When two armies have similar strength and are about to fight each other, the wise general will use the oblique attack method, which is to concentrate more elite troops on one side, and then speed up the attack on the opposite enemy after the battle begins.

There are fewer soldiers in the center and the other wing, and even after the battle, they have to slow down so that the main force can first defeat one wing of the enemy, and the other center and flanks are responsible for attracting and delaying the enemy.

Of course, this tactic requires skill and courage.
Otherwise, if the enemy general sees through your plan and sends in their reserves, it will be difficult for you to break through. Even if they send in cavalry from the flank, you will still be defeated.

Li Yi thought he was not some genius tactician.

He is basically an amateur in commanding troops.

He doesn't have any generals under his command. Li Zhongwen is his superior and has just suffered a major defeat. He cannot be trusted.

Let’s just forget about Liu Shirang and the others.

As for Qiu Shenyan, Li Dejiang and others, they were just young middle and low-level officers at the level of colonel, lieutenant or brigade commander. They were good at leading small troops, but they had no experience in legionary combat.

Knowing his own strengths and weaknesses, Li Yi did not play up his weaknesses and avoid his strengths. He just stayed there. With the support of the city passes, he would be much more stable.

Sun Tzu said that attacking a city was a last resort, and that making siege equipment like large shields, ladders, and battering rams would take at least three months, and building the earthen mounds for the siege would take several more months.

If a general is impatient to attack a city, letting his soldiers attack in a swarming manner, and one-third of the soldiers are killed or wounded before the city is taken, it will be a disaster.

The principle of deploying troops is that if my strength is ten times that of the enemy, I will encircle and annihilate them; if my strength is five times that of the enemy, I will attack them; if my strength is twice that of the enemy, I will try my best to defeat them; if our strength is evenly matched, I will try to disperse them and defeat them one by one.

If your forces are weaker than the enemy's, you should avoid fighting.

Given Li Yi's current situation, he had to avoid taking the initiative to attack, let alone engage in field battles or sieges.

He is suitable for defending the city.

If there are ten, surround them; if there are five, attack them.

If you don’t have that strength, then just stay under the tower.

On the tall city walls, new recruits, auxiliary troops, civilian laborers, and able-bodied men can still play some role. If they are brought along to make up the numbers in a field battle, their formation will become chaotic and they will be defeated.

Li Yi wrote a letter back to Li Zhongwen, advising him to hold Zhangbi Fort tightly, to defend it by taking advantage of the terrain, not to attack, and to wait for reinforcements from the court.

The main force of Liu Wuzhou's Han army is still in Taiyuan, but we still cannot underestimate the enemy.

After writing the letter,
Li Yi called Li Daoxuan, Li Daozon, Li Boyi, Li Fengci and others to visit various temples and monasteries in the county.

"Send people to strengthen the management of each temple. We must never let the situation like the one in Jiexiu City, where the monk Daocheng colluded with foreign enemies and used Buddhist banners to lower them into the city and seize the gates, happen again."

Li Fengci had no good impression of these monks either. "If you ask me, we should strike first and lock up all these monks to prevent any of them from collaborating with the enemy. But I heard they have so much millet stored, but are taking advantage of the war to secretly sell or borrow grain at high prices. Borrow in summer and pay back in autumn, with double interest. Double interest every three months. How shady!"

"How can we punish them without cause?" Li Yi shook his head. "We need to strengthen supervision. First, we need to send people to guard each temple. Anyone entering or leaving the temple gates must first obtain our approval and have a stamped slip. When leaving the city, they must go through a station and state where they are going and when they will return. They must not approach key areas such as the city gates and walls.

Furthermore, usury is prohibited. They can sell grain and borrow grain, but the monthly interest cannot exceed 6%, and the interest cannot be returned as principal, and the interest cannot exceed double the principal.

"Also, remove the warrior monks from all temples and confiscate their weapons."

Li Boyi suggested, "It is very troublesome for us to transport grain through the Hanhou Trail. Although we have collected some grain after the summer harvest, we don't know when the war will end, so we still need to store more grain.
These temples owned a lot of land and borrowed grain at interest, so each of them had a lot of grain stored.

I would say we should borrow food from them now, all the food they have beyond their rations, and return it after the war."

"Aren't you afraid that these monks will collude with foreign enemies and cause chaos like Daocheng of Longquan Temple?"

"Hehe, if they dare, then we can just wipe them out at once and eliminate the hidden danger." The young dandy prince had a ferocious look on his face.

Li Yi asked Li Dao Zong, "What does Lord Lueyang think?"

"I think it's feasible. We're in wartime now, and food is a valuable strategic resource. We can borrow it first. It's not like we're taking it for free."

"Okay, then let Lord Lueyang take charge of this matter."

The county magistrate Guo Jiechou took the initiative to mention that there was a large temple outside the city called Suxi Temple, which was a large temple on par with the above-mentioned Longquan Temple. It covered an area of dozens of acres and had many monks.

Suxi Temple is located in the northeast of the city, in Jingjie Village on the banks of Jingsheng River, a tributary of Fen River. It was once the capital of the Bing State of the Shang Dynasty. The county seat was previously located there, but was later moved to its current location due to floods. Lingshi County was newly established during the Kaihuang period of the Sui Dynasty.

"Suxi Temple also has a lot of monks' residences and millet, as well as many warrior monks who protect the temple, as well as a large number of tenants and cleaners."

Li Yi now has no good feelings towards the bald men.
"Send troops to transport the food from the temple back to the city, check the monks' certificates of ordination, and dismiss those without certificates and return them to secular life. Confiscate the weapons of all the warrior monks and return them to secular life.
Leave ten days' worth of food for the remaining monks, and they will come to the city every ten days to collect their food."

Finally, Li Yi added: "Anyone who dares to disobey military orders will be killed without mercy!"

(End of this chapter)