Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 214 Suppression and Appeasement
On the seventh day of the second month of the third year of Qianfu (746 AD), a grievance was made.

As February arrived, the Central Plains were hit by a sudden cold snap, so cold that it made people shiver.

On the south bank of the Baigou River, several wooden fences were erected, which were refugee reception points set up by the Baoyi Army.

With the complete annihilation of Cao Shixiong's forces in the Cao army, no large groups of Cao troops dared to appear in most areas from Puzhou to western Caozhou.

In this situation, since mid-January, Yang Fuguang, the military supervisor of Xuanwu, has been sending Xuanwu troops to attack in various places, and has successively recovered Chengshi, Linpu, Puyang and other places, which can be said to have made a great achievement.

However, the situation in these places did not improve with the arrival of the Xuanwu Army; on the contrary, it worsened.

The Xuanwu Army clearly didn't treat the people of Puzhou as human beings. If the Puzhou bandits only targeted the wealthy and powerful after occupying these cities, then the Xuanwu Army went on a rampage, plundering the land, but still didn't gain much.

In that case, we can only borrow the heads of our fellow villagers.

During this period, the Xuanwu Army troops sent out would frequently report dozens or even hundreds of beheadings as a victory. Yang Fuguang, who worked in the yamen, was well aware of this, but he still reported the military achievement.

What else can we do? Tell those soldiers that the heads of the rebel army are worthless? That only meritorious generals like Cao Shixiong deserve credit? Wouldn't that just cause these Xuanwu soldiers to mutini and return to Bianzhou?

So even though he knew what was going on, Yang Fuguang reluctantly accepted it. He simply kept sending letters to the Xuanwu generals in various places, instructing them to rectify military discipline. He also dispatched a dozen or so junior inspectors to these places to verify the heads and prevent the killing of innocent people to claim credit.

But is it useful? Of course not. There's no difference between disaster victims and rebels, and those core members of the rebel army don't tattoo their faces, so who knows whether this head belongs to a rebel or not?
The role of these minor supervisors is actually to tell those Xuanwu generals not to go too far, and I, Yang Fuguang, am aware of that.

But this self-deceiving supervision had no effect on the Xuanwu Army, because they were also harboring resentment.

Yes, those cities west of Puzhou were recovered without much fighting, but wasn't it the Xuanwu Army that marched all the way here? Even if they didn't achieve great things, they certainly put in a lot of hard work!

But now, after entering the city, they realized that these places were cleaner than their faces. They spent three or four days scraping in the city, but they didn't scrape off much money.

It was around that time that they learned that the vast majority of the wealth in these places had been plundered by the bandit army.

Now that the Puzhou bandit army has been defeated by the People's Righteous Army, it goes without saying who will get these riches.
They didn't cause any trouble, saying that the Baoyi Army was hoarding resources and demanding that they take out their money and share it with everyone.

On the one hand, the regional military forces at this time actually had a strong sense of regional identity. They did not consider themselves to be part of the Baoyi Army from Huainan, so their spoils of war belonged to the Baoyi Army. Similarly, the spoils of war of their Xuanwu Army also belonged to their Xuanwu Army, and they would never share them with the Baoyi Army.

On the other hand, they were also quite afraid of that Hu Baoyi.

If they previously only had a one-sided view of Zhao Huai'an of the Baoyi Army, thinking he was a bit fierce, after joining forces and learning about the treatment of the Baoyi Army, they now felt that Zhao Huai'an was foolish and rich.

It was only after the Qin Zongquan brothers' incident that everyone realized Zhao Huai'an was a tiger, someone who would devour people.

When the heads of Qin Zongquan and his brothers and their followers were carried around the entire camp on bamboo poles, Xuanwu and Zhongwu both knew of Zhao Huai'an's power.

The governor of Guang Prefecture was truly swift and decisive in eliminating any potential assassins. Qin Zongquan was already a powerful figure in the Zhongwu Army, and it wasn't even him who sent someone to assassinate Zhao Huai'an.

But what could be done? The people had already fled, and Zhao Huai'an was still leading hundreds of cavalry in pursuit.

It's certain that he's vengeful, but aside from the Caizhou army who suffered the loss, the other regional armies greatly admire Zhao Huai'an.

This is how we martial artists should be!

Therefore, even though almost half a month has passed since the Qin Zongquan incident, Zhao Huai'an is still the center of everyone's discussion.

But now, our central figure is wearing a tattered coat and is inspecting the refugee reception point on the south bank of the Baigou River with Zhao Liu.

Around him were men dressed similarly, vigilantly surveying their surroundings.

At this time, the disaster victims in Caozhou, south of Baigou River, were struggling to make their way along the road.

As news of the Baoyi Army receiving refugees spread southwards, some refugees from as far away as Songzhou also began to flee here.

Therefore, during this period, the Baigou River was bustling with activity, with fleets from Guangzhou, Shouzhou, Yingzhou, Chenzhou, and Bianzhou constantly traveling back and forth. Some bold merchants also brought grain here after order was gradually restored in the Yuanju area.

Although private merchants could always deliver grain more promptly than the government, they were not there to do charity.

Like Zhao Huai'an, these wealthy merchants from Jianghuai, Ruying, and Bianzhou also saw the value of these human resources.

However, unlike Zhao Huai'an, who preferred farmers and craftsmen, these wealthy merchants only chose one type of person: good-looking children, regardless of gender.

Now, a few pancakes can buy a bright child. After two or three years of teaching, the child can be sold to a wealthy family, resulting in a hundredfold profit.

Therefore, during this period, the wealthy merchants in these regions were even busier than the fleets from Gwangju.

Taking advantage of Zhao Huai'an is never a good thing. These wealthy merchants are able to make their fortune because Baoyi Army has stabilized the surrounding order.

So it's not reasonable to make wealthy businessmen pay some stability maintenance fees now, is it?

And this money was particularly easy to collect, because the only way to get in and out of Caozhou was through the Baigou River. Zhao Huai'an simply ordered the fleet to block the Baigou River, and no one could escape.

Every time they traveled in or out of the area, wealthy merchants had to spend a hundred strings of cash to buy a "Bao" flag, as only with this flag could they travel freely on the Baigou River.

Don't complain about the price. If you get robbed by the Xuanwu Army or Zhongwu Army, don't cry.

Those wealthy merchants also had powerful connections, and many even had ties to the Xuanwu Army, but what good were they?
With Wang Duo, the military governor of Xuanwu, returning to Chang'an in high spirits and being appointed prime minister, Xuanwu became Yang Fuguang's personal fiefdom.

He had been deeply involved in the Xuanwu Army for many years, and many mid-level generals in the army had close relationships with Yang Fuguang. Now that Yang Fuguang was officially ranked first, the entire Xuanwu Army was even more determined to align themselves.

In fact, Yang Fuguang's recommendation of Wang Duo to serve as prime minister in Chang'an was also based on this consideration: to accelerate the concentration of power during the transition between the old and new authorities in Xuanwu Army.

Therefore, the amount of rice transported from Bianzhou has increased significantly during this period.

Meanwhile, before the imperial court's rewards arrived, Yang Fuguang used the treasury of Bianzhou to send 300,000 strings of cash to the front lines.

One hundred thousand strings of cash were allocated specifically to reward Zhao Huai'an's Righteous Army.

The Baoyi Army now has 3,500 elite warriors, having taken over 500 soldiers from Shouzhou under Zhang Ao, 300 soldiers from Xuzhou under Li Shitai, absorbed over 700 remnants of the Tianping and Yicheng armies, and annexed 500 soldiers from Caizhou under Qin Zongquan.

In addition, the Baoyi Army now possesses more than 2,000 mules and horses, of which more than 700 are warhorses, and more than 100 of them were captured from the annihilated bandit camps.

These captured warhorses even bore the insignia of the Yicheng Army.

So it is quite obvious that after Yicheng Army served as a transport team for the rebel army, these warhorses were transferred to Zhao Huai'an's side.

What ended up in Zhao Huai'an's hands, and what was handed over?
So Zhao Da waved his hand and added a special layer of horse clothing to these warhorses to cover the branding marks.

In short, it's definitely not going to be repaid.

If your things are stolen, and I beat the thief up and pick up the equipment he dropped, can I still claim it as yours? No way!
Besides these core armaments, there are also numerous vassals and peripheral forces.

They included the auxiliary troops from the outer perimeter of the Baoyi Army and the county soldiers from Shouzhou, totaling three thousand. Later, Zhao Huai'an selected another two thousand able-bodied men from the disaster victims.

These two parts, totaling five thousand, are specifically used to support the combat capabilities of the core elite forces.

This shows how many non-combat personnel are needed to support an elite fighting force.

In addition, it is worth mentioning the five hundred Caizhou soldiers under Qin Zongquan's command.

This was the first time Zhao Huai'an had dismantled his troops, infiltrating his units into the five districts of the yamen's infantry.

Although the Qin brothers were somewhat eccentric, their Caizhou soldiers were extremely strong, each skilled in martial arts, and they especially loved wearing yellow hats.

However, in order to reduce the presence of Caizhou soldiers in the army, Zhao Huai'an specifically ordered these people to dress like everyone else in the army.

In addition, Zhao Huai'an also transferred the five hundred Caizhou soldiers to his command, so that the five commanders of the government could easily absorb the Caizhou soldiers.

However, while Zhao Huai'an downplayed the role of Caizhou soldiers, Yang Fuguang intentionally emphasized it.

After Qin Zongquan's death, his more than a thousand soldiers from Caizhou were divided up by Zhao Huai'an and Yang Fuguang, with the two brothers each receiving five hundred, treating each other equally.

Yang Fuguang originally had over a hundred Shence Army cavalry and five hundred Xuanwu soldiers. Now, with the addition of five hundred Caizhou soldiers, his military strength was already greater than that of most of the military leaders in the army.

He was certainly no match for Zhao Huai'an, but he was already better than the loyal and valiant general Zhang Guan.

Zhang Guan was unlucky; because he vaguely sided with Qin Zongquan and said a few words in his defense, Yang Fuguang took him for being arrogant.

He was very protective of Zhao Da, but dealt a heavy blow to Zhang Guan, directly removing him from his position as the Commander of the Loyal Martial Army.

Therefore, Zhang Guan's current direct force consists of a little over a thousand soldiers from Caizhou, causing him to drop out of the top tier in terms of military strength.

In an era where military might equates to influence, Zhang Guan remained silent at subsequent meetings, his presence barely noticeable.

As for why Yang Fuguang, a mere military supervisor of Xuanwu Army, could command the commander of Zhongwu Army, it was because Yang Fuguang had been promoted.

At this time, he was the deputy commander-in-chief and the supervisor of the five armies of Xuanwu, Zhongwu, Baoyi, Yicheng, and Tianping. He rose from a local military supervisor to the direct person in charge of a major war zone.

The reason for this change was that the good news he sent to Chang'an had an effect.

Who was Cao Shixiong? In fact, none of the high-ranking officials and privy councilors in Chang'an knew him. But amidst the gloom, this news of victory greatly boosted morale in the court and among the people. One important change was that Wang Duo, who had been regarded as a proponent of peace talks, actually picked up a glass of water as the first thing he did upon returning to the Council of State.

He believed that the current strategy for dealing with the bandits was neither to suppress them nor to appease them; a combination of suppression and appeasement was necessary to achieve peace.

What the court had been worried about was the strength of the bandit army. After the defeats of the Tianping and Yicheng armies, they were very doubtful about whether they could quell the bandits by force in a short period of time.

But now Yang Fuguang has led the Zhongwu, Xuanwu and Baoyi armies to wipe out the bandit forces in Cao and Pu prefectures in one battle, which has undoubtedly given the court great confidence.

Especially since the young emperor was already in his prime, it was difficult for him to submit to Nanzhao, let alone a group of insignificant commoners.

Thus, with Wang Duo's change of heart, Yang Fuguang sent another piece of good news, and the winds that had been blowing earlier began to shift again.

Just yesterday, the latest imperial commendation and official appointment certificate arrived in Yuanju by fast ship.

All the generals of Xuanwu and Zhongwu armies, including Zhao Huai'an, were rewarded. Zhao Huai'an was promoted one rank directly, from the original Silver-Green Grand Master of the Palace to the Gold-Purple Grand Master of the Palace.

The title of Silver-Blue Grand Master of the Palace was merely the standard for the governor of their prefecture, while the title of Gold-Purple Grand Master of the Palace was only awarded to those who had rendered meritorious service; it was a high honor.

In this way, Zhao Da's father's grave can be raised even higher.

As for the ranks of meritorious officials, Zhao Huai'an was also awarded the title of Protector of the Army for his military achievements, entering the high ranks of the twelve meritorious officials of the empire.

Perhaps because most of the military merits were distributed among the government, Yang Fuguang intended to compensate Zhao Huai'an with honors, so Zhao Huai'an was even granted a noble title for this.

Of course, the title wasn't high, just a baron of Guang Prefecture, but our Zhao family had become nobles of the empire, people of high status.

In addition, the imperial court bestowed upon Zhao Huai'an a purple robe and a gold fish pouch.

But these were all honorary titles. What truly represented Yang Fuguang's, or rather the Yang family's, sincerity was the last honorary title.

At this time, although Zhao Huai'an was still the Prefect of Guang Prefecture, his official position had changed to the Military Commissioner of Guang and Shou Prefectures.

In other words, Zhao Huai'an can now rightfully lead the local militia in Shouzhou.

This wasn't a meteoric rise, but it was indeed Yang Fuguang expressing his attitude: he was working hard to promote Zhao Da to the position of Deputy Military Governor of Huainan.

Were Zhao Da happy after receiving these honors and official titles? Yes, he was, but he also knew that Yang Fuguang wanted his help.

Sure enough, today, Lao Deng summoned him over, showering him with concern and making empty promises. He even allocated forty ships of military supplies from Bianzhou to Zhao Da, all with the same message.

It's time to retake Caozhou.

What did Zhao Daneng say? Sure enough, as long as you can find work, there will always be work to do.

However, he did not rule out sending troops. In fact, in order to prevent the Cao army from successfully breaking through Yizhou and heading south to Huaidong, Zhao Huai'an also had to defeat the enemy in the direction of Caozhou as soon as possible, and also cross Yanzhou to join the Yizhou battlefield.

The reason why Zhao Huai'an suddenly became so anxious was because the intensity of the war on the Yizhou battlefield suddenly increased after the third year of Qianfu.

Previously, the Wang and Huang bandits mostly plundered nearby prefectures and counties. However, after a large number of mountain bandits from Tai, Lu, Ni, and Meng joined the bandit army, the bandits began to gain a battlefield advantage in the Yizhou area.

Led by local mountain strongholds, these bandit groups often traversed valleys in small numbers and suddenly appeared on the Pinglu army's supply lines to harass Song Wei's logistics.

At the same time, the Cao army's offensive against the Tang army in Yizhou became even more fierce and proactive. Therefore, some time ago, Song Wei, the commander of the Yizhou camp, once again sent someone to Yuanju to request that Zhao Huai'an's troops be transferred to the Yizhou battlefield to participate in the war.

But Yang Fuguang has invested so much in Zhao Huai'an, and recently rewarded him with 100,000 strings of cash, all to pave the way for the Yang family. How could he let Song Wei be transferred away?

So it is said that the argument ended badly.

Zhao Huai'an, being cunning, expressed his stance to both sides under these circumstances.

He went to Yang Fuguang's place in person to talk about their brotherhood, while Wang Jingwu, the old errand boy, went to Song Wei's place to express his ambition to make a name for himself to Song Wei, the uncle of his former superior.

In short, when it comes to tea, Zhao Huai'an is second to none!

Today, Zhao Da just saw Wang Jingwu off and specially asked him to take a generous gift to Song Wei.

In terms of human relationships, Zhao Huai'an certainly did a good job.

Then he, along with Zhao Liu and Zhang Guinian, came to inspect the camp on the south bank.

As he is about to send troops out, the takeover work here will inevitably be affected. Therefore, during this window of opportunity, the military officers here need to transport as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time.

Zhao Huai'an, dressed in a dirty robe, made a private visit. Although there were many problems in the camp, everyone was working hard, and that was enough.

Then he led his men back to the east bank.

When crossing the river, Zhao Huai'an, Zhao Liu, Zhang Guinian, and Yuan Xi were in the same boat because they were traveling in a small boat.

After the boat reached the middle of the river, Zhao Huai'an told the oarsmen to stop and then chatted with the three of them about personal matters.

Zhao Huai'an asked Zhang Guinian:
"Old Zhang, do you think Yizhou can hold off the rebel army? The envoy from the Yizhou camp looked very worried. Isn't this a bad sign?"

Zhang Guinian has also been gathering intelligence from Yizhou recently, and then analyzing it for Zhao Huai'an:
"It's too early to talk about these things now, but there is one thing to note: as the spring chill ends and the world warms up, the Grass Army will inevitably launch a more ferocious offensive. They have been lying in wait in the wild for a whole winter, and their supplies must have been greatly depleted. If they cannot break through Yizhou as soon as possible, the Grass Army may collapse."

"But if we put ourselves in a desperate situation, we can survive. At that time, with the large number of rebels, Yizhou will indeed be in trouble. After all, one is going south to survive, while the other is dispensable."

After hearing this, Zhao Huai'an rested his chin on his hand and pondered.

Yizhou should be in the area of ​​Linyi, Shandong. He had never been there in his previous life and did not know what kind of terrain it had. However, it was said that Yimeng Mountain was in that area, which should obviously be hilly and have a rugged terrain.

Therefore, according to common sense, Song Wei had at least four regional armies in Yizhou, including his Pinglu Army, Yanhai Army, Ganhua Army, and several Huaidong armies in Chuzhou, with a total strength of no less than 30,000.

According to the messenger from the camp, the number of the enemy army on the other side was between 70,000 and 100,000, even after suffering losses over the winter.

This shows how many mountain strongholds Wang and Huang's two herdsmen absorbed from that large mountainous area after entering the central and southern Shandong region.

Thirty thousand against one hundred thousand? The situation is indeed not good.

Thinking of this, Zhao Huai'an nodded and said to the others:

"So judging from the current situation, we really need to act quickly."

"And what am I worried about? That is, at this time, the main force of the Cao army is almost all concentrated between Yizhou and Yanzhou. This is the perfect time to defeat their main force. Afterwards, no matter whether the Cao army can break through Yizhou, they will be very likely to start to divide their forces."

"The peasant army has more mules and horses, which are faster than our government troops. If we chase after them, we will only end up eating their dust. Now the enemy is clustered in the mountains, which makes it difficult for them to move around and they cannot make full use of the peasant army's tactics."

"Therefore, Yizhou is the best battlefield for us to defeat the bandit army! After we pass this place, it will be difficult to annihilate the enemy in one battle."

Zhao Liu nodded in agreement and added:
"Yes, these bandits are only focused on heading south, so they've committed a military taboo. If they realize what's happening and launch another raid between Cao and Pu provinces like they did, we'll be in for a lot of trouble!"

After saying that, Zhao Liu sighed:
"There are smart people among the common soldiers!"

These words made Zhao Da take a few more glances; even our good brother from the Tang Dynasty started to use his brain!
Yuan Xi also added his own supplement:

"Furthermore, we cannot let our guard down against the bandit army in Caozhou."

Then Yuan Xi explained the current situation of the Caozhou rebels.

According to intelligence gathered by the scouts, after receiving most of the cavalry from the Puzhou army, the Caozhou army split into three groups. One group returned to the vicinity of Juancheng in Puzhou from Chengshi and Leize, another group fled directly into Juyeze along Baigou, and the third group returned to Caozhou City.

Zhao Huai'an estimated that the reason why the remaining troops of the Caozhou rebels were divided in this way instead of all returning to Caozhou was because there was a major disagreement within them.

Caozhou City was actually very close to Yuanju, only about fifty li apart, which was the distance a cavalry could cover in a day.

With the arrival of the Tang army's Zhongwu and Xuanwu armies at Yuanju, a total of 20,000 elite troops from various vassal states have gathered here.

Clearly, the Caozhou rebels, having just fled, did not have much courage to defend Caozhou City.

But they probably didn't expect that after defeating the Cao army in the first month, the Tang army didn't move a single step in Yuanju for almost half a month, which made them worry for nothing.

However, Zhao Huai'an was not idle. During this period, he continued to send cavalry to the vicinity of Caozhou to put continuous pressure on the Cao army in the city.

At the same time, the Baoyi Army's cavalry also practiced infiltration, flanking, and harassment of small cavalry units in this way, aiming to render the rebel army in the city blind and deaf.

But that wasn't enough. Zhao Huai'an had already sent skilled spies to infiltrate Caozhou, and even sent spies to Yunzhou, which was on the side of the Tianping Army.

This tactic was learned from Cao Jun. If the enemy can do it, then Zhao Da can too!
Now, Zhao Huai'an is waiting for intelligence from these spies so he can decide on his next move.

But instead of receiving intelligence from the spies in Caozhou, Zhao Da received another piece of bad news.

Yuncheng has fallen.

　The Yuncheng mentioned here refers to the area around present-day Yuncheng County, Heze City, while the Yunzhou City, the military governorship of the Tianping Army, was Xuchang, located in the area of ​​Liangshanbo in present-day Dongping County. They are not the same place.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)