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

Chapter 91 Give Me Three Thousand Elite Cavalry
The camp outside the Jinguang Gate,

Li Yi drooled with envy at the Mingguang armor worn by the senior generals. Liu Heizi and Chen Liang were country bumpkins who had never seen the world.

Those two shiny big round guards can be used as mirrors and have super strong arrow protection capabilities.

"No Yi,"

Xu Luoren came over with a smile,

"General Xu."

"Come with me," Xu Luoren looked mysterious, which made Li Yi quite curious.

Soon he was taken to a corner of the camp where baggage was piled high.

"Su Dianqian, Yang Canjun," Xu Luoren greeted the two green-robed officials, "The King of Qin asked me to bring Li Canjun to collect the supplies."

"Everything is ready."

Su Xu took them there.

"One set of rhinoceros hide armor, one iron helmet, two battle robes, one warhorse, one packhorse, one horn bow, two bowstrings, thirty arrows, one Hulu..."

There were many things, including armor and horses, bows and arrows, swords, tents to live in, iron bowls for eating, flints for making fire, blankets for sleeping, felt hats for sun protection, and stones for sharpening knives.
There was even a small copper pot, a stone pestle for pounding rice, and a water bag for holding water.

Finally, wheat rice, corn, salt, sauce, and medicine,

He was a civil servant and was also provided with paper, ink, brush and inkstone.

The huge pile of things really shocked Li Yi.

However, as a civilian, he did not have spears, shields, or lances.

Li Yi brought two families of soldiers and two guards, and also received some equipment. The guards brought their own bows, arrows, swords and horses. The soldiers from Heizi and Chen Liang's families also rode a horse each. Li Shimin specially approved four of them, one packhorse each.

Each of the two families' servants was given a broadsword, a bow and thirty arrows, a wooden shield, and a spear.

I also received a lot of food.

Check and hand over, sign and fingerprint,

Xu Luoren brought Li Yi and four others to a large camp and told them to set up camp there.

"No noise or running is allowed in the barracks, and you are not allowed to enter or leave at will. Your two guards are from the government and know these military rules. Your two servants are new here, so please obey the guards."

"Thank you, General Xu, for your care."

Although Liu Heizi is usually quite brave, he seems to have become much more honest after entering the military camp.

There were armored soldiers everywhere, so it was no surprise that he had the strength to knock down a bull.

It was not the first time for the two soldiers to enter the camp, so they started to set up the tents. These were the kind of tents that could accommodate a group of ten people. They were not very big, but they were necessary for camping in the wild, especially when encountering rain and snow.

The tent has just been pitched.
Li Jing also came over after meeting Li Shimin.

The fifteen family soldiers brought by his uncle set up three tents directly. Each of their five servants guarded one person, while Li Yi had four people guarding him.

"Didn't Lord Li bring his guard?"

"I didn't have a position in the Qin King's court before, so I didn't have a certificate." Li Jing said with a smile.

They had been notified that they would set off the day after tomorrow, but Li Yi and his men had already officially entered the camp and could no longer leave at will.

Even if they were outside Chang'an City, Li Yi could no longer go home.

Both of them were soldiers in the field camp, but compared with other busy civilians, they were a bit idle.

"Do you want to cook dinner yourself?" Li Yi asked.

"Well, once you get the food, you have to do it yourself,"

Li Yi found the military camp life quite novel. Although Li Jing had never been in the army before, he was born into a military family and was familiar with marching, fighting, and even setting up camp.

The two were neighbors in Pingkangfang, and now their tents are next to each other in the military camp. With him around, Li Yi can ask directly if he doesn't understand something, which is very convenient.

The tent was pitched, and it was almost dusk.
So they started cooking.
Li Yi dug a hole, set up a pot to cook, fetched water and lit a fire. He felt like he was having a picnic.

The first meal in the military camp was very simple. The wheat rice they received was steamed and dried repeatedly, first soaked in hot water, and then boiled. When eating, some sauce and salt were added and it started to eat.

As an officer, Li Yi's treatment is still good, and he has not yet officially started his mission, so the conditions are relatively good.

When we really go marching and fighting, we often don’t have time to light a fire and cook. We either go hungry or just chew on some wheat rice that is as hard as iron grains.

There are usually no vegetables to eat, unless you camp near the city and the logistics department can buy some vegetables for you. Otherwise, you can only pick some wild vegetables on the road and cook them in wheat rice.

Many ordinary soldiers didn't even have sauce or salt, and could only be given some vinegar cloth.

When cooking porridge, cut a small piece and add it in to make it salty and flavorful.

After dinner,

Li Jing and Li Yi did not need to wash their own rice bowls or anything like that, as they both came with servants. They took out a small stool and sat in front of the tent to chat.

"Two officers, His Highness has called a meeting. Please proceed immediately."

A messenger from the Prince of Qin's palace came to inform the two of them.

"We are still discussing matters at this time. Is there another emergency?" Li Jing frowned.
The two of them rushed to the general's tent.

When I arrived, I found that the atmosphere was indeed a bit solemn.

All the senior generals from the camp in Beijing were present, along with a few unfamiliar faces, all wearing purple robes. When everyone arrived, Li Shimin stood up and introduced them first.

One of the bearded men is Qu Tutong, the current Minister of War and Duke of Jiang. He led the Sui army to block Li Yuan from entering Guanzhong, which caused Li Yuan a lot of trouble. But after defeating him, Li Yuan was still generous and reused him.

This time he came to serve as the chief historian of the camp.

The other man in purple robe was handsome and young, but he was the emperor's son-in-law and the son of Prime Minister Dou Kang, the Duke of Anfeng County, and Dou Dan. He was the Palace Supervisor at the time and came to serve as the Sima of the camp.

Previously, Li Shimin had requested that Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan continue to serve as the chief secretary and the military officer, but now he sent two more people, which means two chief secretaries and two military officers, one is the Minister of War and the other is the Palace Supervisor.

Li Yi felt like something was not right.

But there are more than just two new members.
There were also the Right General Pang Yu, the Left General Yi'an King Li Xiaochang, and the Minister of Civil Affairs Dou Jin.
Even Dou Kang, who served as the prime minister in the court and also served as the left general, temporarily joined the camp.

There is also the Right Guard General Fan Xing. He and his father Fan Fang were originally officials of the Sui Dynasty. Later, because of their crimes, they were enslaved and rewarded to Li Yuan, becoming Li Yuan's slaves. After the Taiyuan uprising, Fan Xing and Qian Jiulong, two of Li Yuan's slaves, led troops to fight and showed bravery. One was granted the title of County Duke and the other was granted the title of State Duke.

Li Yi sorted things out silently in his mind.
There is a Prince of Changle Li Shuliang in Jingzhou, and now another Prince of Yian Li Xiaochang has been sent.

There was already a former Prime Minister Liu Wenjing, and now there is the current Prime Minister Dou Kang.
Then the Minister of War Qu Tutong, the Minister of Civil Affairs Dou Jin, and the former Vice Minister of Personnel Yin Kaishan,
There was also Pang Yu, the Right General of Wuhou, Li Xiaochang and Dou Kang also served as a general, and Chai Shao was the Left Yiwei General, and Liu Hongji was the Right Xiaowei General.

This lineup is too luxurious, two prime ministers, two chancellors, five generals, two princes and two princes-in-law.

Xue Ju didn't receive this kind of treatment before he died.

"Just received two pieces of bad news,"

Li Shimin said solemnly, "Liu Gan, the governor of Jingzhou and general of the cavalry, led his troops to capture the city of Qiecheng. He was defeated and killed, and his entire army of 3,000 men was wiped out."

Many senior officers in the tent were obviously aware of the news, but others who heard it for the first time couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Li Yi was puzzled. Li Shimin was about to send troops, so why did Liu Gan go out of the city to fight and give himself up?
"The second piece of bad news is about the Longzhou governor, Chang Da. Previously, General Xue, Wu Shizheng, surrendered with several hundred men, and Chang Da accepted the surrender. A few days ago, Wu Shizheng seized the opportunity to kidnap Chang Da and rebelled with 2,000 men in the city."

Haven't sent out troops yet.

Two pieces of bad news came one after another. Two provincial governors were gone.
Although Jingzhou was still in the hands of Li Shuliang, he suddenly lost three thousand soldiers. The situation in Longzhou was even worse. The coroner Zheng pretended to surrender and now suddenly launched an uprising. He not only robbed the governor Chang Da, but also instigated two thousand soldiers in Longzhou to rebel. The city of Longzhou was lost.

Li Yi couldn't help but sigh that the situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly.

I originally thought that the Qin army in Longyou was a dead fish on the board, but who knew that they could just flick their tails twice and actually knock down two governors.

"Jingzhou City is extremely dangerous and could fall at any time. Your Majesty has ordered that troops be dispatched immediately, especially to reinforce Jingzhou as quickly as possible. Jingzhou cannot be lost, and the Prince of Changping cannot be lost."

Liu Hongji stood up,
He was also a founding hero. In his early years, in order to avoid the Liaodong Campaign, he fled to Taiyuan to join Li Yuan and his son. After raising the army, he also made many contributions.

When Chang'an was captured, he ranked first in merit and was granted the title of Duke of Hejian County.

It was the last time we were defeated at Asamizuhara.
Among the eight generals, only Liu Hongji's army was left alone to guard the rear. If they had not fought to the death, I am afraid that the entire army would have been wiped out at that time.

"I am willing to lead the elite troops to rush to Jingzhou City overnight."

Liu Hongji was deeply ashamed of being defeated and captured at Qianshuiyuan last time. Fortunately, Li Shimin quickly turned the situation around, recaptured Gaoqiong City and rescued him.

Although he was a prisoner for only two days, Liu Hongji always remembered it in his heart.

"Another serious problem in Jingzhou was the lack of food. Xue Rengao held Changcheng City and laid siege to Anding. Six of the seven counties in Jingzhou were captured by Xue Rengao.
Not only must we send an army of reinforcements, but we must also bring food."

However, if you want to provide reinforcements quickly, it is not convenient to bring a lot of food and supplies. Carrying too much will not only slow down the speed, but also make it easy for Xue's army to attack and rob them.

Liu Hongji patted his chest and said, "Give me three thousand elite cavalrymen, each with three horses. One horse for riding, one for changing, and one for carrying food and grass. We will travel day and night and reach Jingzhou City in three days."

"There's no need to bring a separate baggage train and laborers. My three thousand men can carry six thousand dan of grain to Jingzhou, which is enough to solve Jingzhou's immediate needs. If all else fails, these nine thousand horses will be enough to sustain the entire city for a long time."

Li Jing stood up and reminded Liu Hongji that a war horse needs to eat four liters of beans and millet a day, and fifteen or sixteen pounds of hay, and each cavalryman needs at least two liters of rice a day.

By this calculation, even if the march lasts three days, they will have to eat more than 400 dan of grain and more than ten kilograms of grass on the road.

Liu Hongji's food and fodder were scarce by the time he reached Jingzhou. Therefore, it was best to bring only corn. During the three days of travel, both men and horses would eat only grain, not fodder.

In this way, if they brought 6,000 dan of grain and ate about 1,000 dan on the way, they would still have nearly 5,000 dan of corn left to enter the city.

If the military and civilians in Jingzhou save a little, giving each person one liter of rice per day, the more than 20,000 people in Jingzhou city can hold out for another 20 days.

Add to that the 9,000 horses they brought as food reserves, and they'll have no problem holding out for another two months.

Minister of Civil Affairs Dou Jin snorted coldly, "Nine thousand horses, do you know how precious they are? The court is very short of horses right now, how can we waste them like this? Doesn't Changwu City have a lot of food stored in it?

There's no need to dispatch cavalry from Chang'an to rush to Jingzhou. We can directly organize civilians to transport grain in Changwu, and send troops from Changwu and Gaocheng to escort the grain to Jingzhou. This way, Jingzhou will have both grain and reinforcements."

Li Yi looked at the Minister Dou, who was quite majestic and tall. The Dou family claimed to be the Fufeng Dou family, but Ji Sujun said that the Dou family was actually Xianbei Hu people, and their ancestors were the Xianbei Hedouling family. They were given the surname Dou when Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty sinicized. Later, they said that they were descendants of the Dou family of the Han Dynasty, but in fact, they were just trying to flatter themselves.

This Minister Dou is the father-in-law of Ji Sujun's brother Ji Wen.

Li Yi wondered if Ji Wen was also in the camp.

Li Yi was deserting, and the results were soon revealed there. Li Shimin finally decided that Liu Hongji would lead 3,000 elite cavalry north from here, one man on two horses.
This way, we can reach Gaocheng City as quickly as possible and change horses there.

Gaocheng is only about a hundred miles away from Jingzhou. A batch of food and grass can be transported from Gaocheng City to reinforce Jingzhou. Changwu and Gaocheng can even send troops to support Liu Hongji and cover his entry into Jingzhou.

But Li Shimin also requested that they should not engage in a fight with Xue's army.

If Liu Hongji succeeds in reinforcing Jingzhou City, he will just have to garrison and hold the city, and is not allowed to go into battle.

"Anyone who dares to fight frivolously will be killed!"

Li Jing stood up and said, "Your Highness, I am willing to accompany Lord Hejian."

Li Shimin flatly refused, "Pharmacist, please stay by my side and assist me in military affairs."

(End of this chapter)