Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 220 Insects
On the 18th day of the second month of the third year of Qianfu, it was still outside Caozhou City.

Six days have passed since we captured the riverbank position, and the camp has been set up for five days, but there has been no fighting.

Those outside the city dared not fight, and those inside dared not leave the city. So they just sat there, each waiting for the other to make a mistake.

On this day, Yang Fuguang finally arrived from the rear.

Upon his arrival, he presented Zhao Huai'an with a generous gift.

……

Yang Fuguang acted as if three years had passed since he last saw him, even though he hadn't seen him for just a few days. This was something that even Zhao Huai'an, who was skilled in this area, couldn't match.

Even though it was his own camp, Yang Fuguang kept talking to him all the way until they entered the tent. Fortunately, Old Yang didn't sit at the head of the table, otherwise the group of Baoyi generals would definitely have something to say.

But Zhao Huai'an didn't care about such face. He directly pulled Yang Fuguang to sit at the head of the table and then sat next to him.

As soon as he sat down, Zhao Huai'an took the initiative and began to pour out his grievances:

“Brother, when you asked us to attack Caozhou, I thought it was no big deal. But when we got to the city, I was dumbfounded. Isn’t Caozhou a bit too exaggerated? It’s not even a provincial capital, so why is it built so magnificently? I think Chang’an is no better than this.”

Yang Fuguang burst into laughter, only then withdrawing his hand from Zhao Da's, and said, chuckling to himself:

“Zhao Da, we didn’t believe the army’s comments about you being a country bumpkin. We thought you were quite knowledgeable. But what you said today makes us realize that what they said wasn’t wrong. You really need to go out and see the great rivers and mountains of our Tang Dynasty. That way, you’ll broaden your mind and become a more useful talent for the court. Otherwise, you’ll make a fool of yourself and let the people below look down on us.”

"Take now, for example. You may say that Caozhou City is indeed magnificent, but can it compare to Chang'an? Haha! Let me put it this way, the two are as different as a firefly and the bright moon. Caozhou City alone has no fewer than twenty such places in the world, and there are even more strategic passes and passes."

While Yang Fuguang was speaking, Zhao Da had already quietly lowered his hand.

I don't know what happened, but ever since he shook hands with Yang Fuguang, this old prisoner has become like he's turned on a switch, even more proactive than Yang Fuguang, shaking hands non-stop every time they meet.

Hearing Yang Fuguang say that there were no fewer than twenty or thirty large cities of Caozhou's scale throughout the country, Zhao Huai'an was secretly astonished. Sure enough, the versions were different.

Back when he, a country bumpkin from northern Jiangsu, first entered Shanghai, he felt dizzy and disoriented when he walked around Century Avenue and looked at the skyscrapers on both sides.

When he arrived in the Tang Dynasty, although the urban landscape could not compare with that of later generations, the scale of the city was still astonishing, making it a marvelous sight.

This is understandable, since cities at this time are not built and then abandoned after twenty or thirty years, but are built generation after generation and can be used for hundreds of years.

It is said that Helian Bobo of the Xiongnu Tiefu tribe spent six years building Tongwan City. After the Xia Dynasty was destroyed, the city was still in use until the time of Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty, which lasted for nearly six hundred years.

Even so, Tongwan City didn't collapse due to weathering; it was demolished by Zhao Er, lest it be left to the Tanguts to aid the enemy.

And the city of Caozhou before us is probably about the same.

From ancient times, people settled here, forming communities, eventually becoming a vassal state during the Western Zhou Dynasty, and then the chaotic wars of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

For the next thousand years, this place was repeatedly ravaged by war, and the city walls collapsed time and time again, but the foundations remained largely in this area.

Just like the moat in front of us, if each generation digs a little bit, it becomes quite terrifying over a dozen generations.

That's the power of time!
But then again, you, Yang Fuguang, laugh at our country bumpkins, but has Zhao Da ever laughed at your country bumpkins?
Hmph, I won't stoop to the level of the ancients.

……

Yang Fuguang was clearly in a good mood. After teasing Zhao Huai'an for a while, he said to him:
“Zhao Da, I could have predicted that you wouldn’t be able to take Caozhou City. Back in the late Sui Dynasty, there was a rebel king named Meng Haigong who seized Caozhou City by surprise. He then relied on this formidable city to survive in the chaos of the Central Plains for eight years before finally surrendering to Dou Jiande. So, I’m not surprised that you can’t take Caozhou City.”

Zhao Huai'an fell silent, angry. He thought to himself, "Old Yang, you didn't say that a few days ago!"
Who else but Zhao Da could conquer Caozhou? And what hope is there that he could work hard, conquer Caozhou, and then conquer Yuncheng? These are not things you, Yang Fuguang, have said.
As expected, all a leader needs is a mouth.

Little did he know, isn't that how you, Zhao Da, treat people too? You call on the gentleman when you need something, and the old man when you don't. You're just laughing at someone who's only slightly better.

Zhao Da remained silent, silently criticizing, while Yang Fuguang perceived him as clueless and oblivious.

That's right. Zhao Dashou, the local sledgehammer, doesn't even know what happened ten years ago, so how could he know what happened three or five hundred years ago?

Despite thinking this to himself, Yang Fuguang also admired Zhao Da's hard work.

Although her family background was even worse than Zhao Da's, she entered the palace at a young age and received a systematic education in classics and history. As for Zhao Da, it was said that his handwriting was like a scribble, full of mistakes, with characters missing strokes or heads.

But this precisely shows that Zhao Xue learned to read very late in life, possibly even while serving in the Western Sichuan army.

He knew those soldiers' lifestyles all too well—it was all about drinking, fighting, and womanizing. Studying? Study my ass!
Yet Zhao Da was able to remain untainted by the mud and swayed by the outside world in such an environment, and was determined to study. He is truly a good child!
Moreover, Zhao Da is surprisingly not a womanizer! It's not that Zhao Da is indifferent to women; two of the four beauties from Bianzhou that he gave to Zhao Da are pregnant. Don't ask him how he knows.

But as far as he knew, Zhao Da only had these four women when he was away on campaign, and he never took any more. He spent most of his time with his brothers.

He truly loves his brothers more than any woman.

This is truly a master of martial arts! A fine warrior!
It was precisely because Zhao Huai'an was such a talented and promising individual that Yang Fuguang was even more determined to cultivate him into a pillar of the nation and a pillar of the court's conscience and courage. Therefore, he intended to teach him:
“Eldest son, you are now the governor, and you will be in charge of a region in the future, so you must study. If you don’t study, you will be ignorant and you will be deceived. Of course, I know that you are busy with military affairs, and now is a time of urgent war, but I am not asking you to become a scholar. As long as you listen more and learn more, and know the origin of the past, it will always be of some benefit.”

Zhao Huai'an initially nodded in agreement, after all, he was willing to offer that much emotional value.

Although Zhao Da is now a respectable person and no longer needs to dance for the leaders until his legs cramp up like before, flattering Zhao Huai'an is as simple as eating and drinking.

But as he listened, Zhao Da realized something was wrong.

Wow, this old Yang really thinks Zhao Da is a country bumpkin! Doesn't he know the story of "looking at someone with new eyes"? He just keeps spouting nonsense!

Then, Zhao Da coughed and said to Yang Fuguang:
"Brother, don't worry, our Zhao Da is much better than that Lü Meng. How could a country bumpkin like him compare to me, Zhao Da?"

Yang Fuguang had been looking forward to it, after all, he had heard Zhao Da tell stories and legends about the Three Kingdoms in the army, so he should know about Lü Meng's story.

But Zhao Da turned out to be a jack of all trades, master of none. So, unable to maintain his patient and persuasive demeanor any longer, he snapped:
"Zhao Da, Lü Meng is from Runan, not Wu!"

Zhao Huai'an was about to launch into a long speech, saying that of course he knew Meng Haigong, and he also knew Li Mi, the one who read books while riding an ox backwards!

Upon hearing Yang Fuguang's words, he was completely dumbfounded, and his face visibly turned red.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Liu, who was sitting below Zhao Huai'an, suddenly clapped his hands and laughed:
"Brother, you're really cultured! I didn't even know who Lü Meng was! I thought he was just a flatbread seller!"

Fatty Dou chimed in, dismissively saying:
"Who cares if he's from Runan or Wu? Can he compare to even a hair on our eldest son's head? By the way, where is Runan?"

Looking at the chubby boy's simple-minded appearance, Yang Fuguang's heartfelt words ultimately turned into a sigh:
"Sigh, forget it. Zhao Da is surrounded by these sycophants. Even if he tried to learn from them, he'd only end up wasting his time!"

"Forget it, forget it, this simple and honest nature is quite good! There's a saying that goes, 'The righteous are often butchers, while the ungrateful are often scholars!'"

"A clay hammer is fine, as long as it's loyal to the imperial court."

Listening to the two clowns acting silly, Zhao Huai'an became even more embarrassed. Suddenly, he noticed an unfamiliar figure in the crowd below Yang Fuguang, and quickly changed the subject, pointing to the dark-skinned man whose eyes kept darting around, and asked Yang Fuguang:
"Brother, where did this hero come from? Is he your adopted son?"

Just when he thought he was going to have another nephew, Yang Fuguang beckoned the dark-skinned man over.

The man approached and bowed respectfully to Yang Fuguang and Zhao Huai'an, before being personally introduced by Yang Fuguang:
"Zhao Da, this is the great gift I have brought you. Our army's ability to break through Caozhou City depends on this man!"

Zhao Huai'an looked suspiciously at the dark-skinned man with crooked eyes. He could see a strong sense of roughness about the man and guessed that he was either a hard-working or unsavory character.

Sure enough, as Yang Fuguang explained, Zhao Huai'an gradually understood who this person was.

This man was originally called Yang Zhao, but now he is called Yang Shouzhao. After becoming Yang Fuguang's godfather, he didn't even need to change his surname, so it doesn't count as betraying his ancestors.

As Zhao Huai'an guessed, this Yang Shouzhao did indeed make a living on the water, and he was a bandit in the Juye Marsh northeast of Caozhou.

Yang Shouchao was based in a place called Qilinzhu in the southwest of Juyeze. It is said that Duke Ai of Lu captured a Qilin while hunting there.

Yang Shouchao's band of water bandits was among the top three most notorious in the 300-li Juye Marsh. Generally speaking, being ranked in the top three means being third, but this doesn't mean Yang Shouchao's band was weak. Because they were located in the southwest of Juye Marsh, close to the Baigou Waterway, passing cargo ships and merchant ships would all pass by on the nearby waters. Yang Shouchao guarded the waterway in front of him and made his fortune by robbing.

Just before Huang Chao's rebellion, the Caozhou state army was preparing to join forces with several local strongmen to wipe out Yang Shouzhao, but in the end, they were defeated by him instead.

Then, after Huang Chao occupied Caozhou City, he went out of Juye Marsh and plundered the surrounding areas of Cao, Yun, Pu, and Yan.

In fact, after Huang Chao occupied Caozhou, he also sent people to the marsh to recruit bandits from Juye Marsh to join him in his great cause.

At that time, the bandits in Juye Marsh mainly followed three groups: himself, Xu Tangju, and Zhao Zhang.

Of these three, Xu Tangju had the earliest close relationship with Wang Xianzhi of Puzhou, so he joined Wang Xianzhi's ranks as soon as Wang Xianzhi rebelled and became a general.

Zhao Zhang was second in strength. He had long admired Huang Chao and knew that Huang Chao was a hero. So when Huang Chao's men entered the marsh to recruit him, he also brought his bandits to join him.

However, Yang Shouchao and Zhao Zhang were at odds at the time, so he did not submit to Zhao Zhang immediately.

If you don't vote immediately, you'll become less and less likely to get along with someone later, because if you vote late, you'll definitely be ranked lower.

At that time, the strength of Huang Chao and the Taiping Army was still quite different, and the situation was unclear, so they decided to remain neutral for the time being.

Huang Chao was not particularly concerned about this, because he already had Zhao Zhang's help and was not short of manpower on the water. Yang Shouzhao's reputation was not very good, so Huang Chao gave up when he saw that the man did not come to join him.

The Taiping Army, of course, would not push this person to the rebel side, so they only sent a detachment of county soldiers to monitor the shore to prevent them from continuing to raid the area, and then let them do as they pleased.

Until last year, when Wang Xianzhi of Puzhou defeated a Taiping army, Xue Chongcai, the military governor of the Taiping army, thought of inducing Yang Shouzhao to surrender.

Yang Shouchao had always dreamed of going ashore, and with this opportunity, he immediately made secret contact with the Taiping Army, preparing to defect to the government forces.

At this critical moment, Xue Chong led the Tianping Army to attack Caozhou, but unexpectedly suffered a defeat. After his main force was thwarted, he could only retreat to Yunzhou City.

In this situation, Yang Shouzhao was not stupid. Of course, he knew that he could no longer join the government army. So after the war, he made direct contact with Huang Chao in Caozhou and finally decided to join Huang Chao.

Huang Chao was a rebel, so he naturally accepted all comers. However, he also had his likes and dislikes, and he had heard that the Taiping Army had been in contact with Yang Shouchao. Therefore, he naturally did not have much affection for this two-faced person.

In addition, Yang Shouchao joined the ranks late, in the latter half of the second year of Qianfu, and was of low seniority, so he was ranked very low in the list of heroes.

Now, let alone compared to his rival Zhao Zhang, even Zhao Zhang's generals sit ahead of Yang Shouzhao.

This made Yang Shouchao even more dissatisfied.

This resentment completely erupted after Yang Fuguang's men came to contact him.

Yang Fuguang didn't tell Zhao Huai'an how his people knew about this matter or how they came into contact with Yang Shouzhao. He simply told Zhao Huai'an with certainty:
"With this man here, Caozhou is safe!"

Hearing this, Zhao Huai'an pointed at the table and suddenly said to Zhao Liu and the others sitting below him:
"You all go down first. I have something important to discuss with my elder brother in private."

After Zhao Liu and the others clasped their hands in greeting to Zhao Huai'an and Yang Fuguang, they prepared to leave, but their movements were very slow. It wasn't until Yang Fuguang had his adopted sons follow them out that they finally left the main tent.

After both sides had left and the area was cleared, Zhao Huai'an said directly to Yang Fuguang:

"Brother, I don't trust this man. How do you plan to use him to take Caozhou City?"

When Yang Fuguang introduced him to the man, he immediately thought of the assassin who had ambushed him earlier, and felt a sense of unease.

Yang Fuguang nodded, not refuting, but instead asked Zhao Huai'an a question:
"Big Brother, do you think the bandit army has become a force to be reckoned with now?"

Zhao Huai'an paused for a moment, pondering the implication of those words, but ultimately decided to speak frankly:
"As things stand, the situation is very unfavorable for us. I don't know if there are any geniuses in the rebel army or if it was just a lucky accident, but they did manage to turn the situation around after capturing Yuncheng."

"The Cao army was previously defeated by our army at Yuanju, and then retreated to Caozhou City. Although it seemed to be in a stable position, it actually had nowhere to go because it gave up its vast territory. It only stayed in Caozhou City. Although Caozhou City is strong and tall, as long as our army surrounds Caozhou City from both land and water, the Cao army inside the city will really be trapped like turtles in a jar."

"In this way, we only need to capture one city to wipe out the bandit forces in Pu and Cao provinces. It can be decided in one battle."

"This is when the enemy concentrates their forces in one place, which may seem like the strongest force, but it is actually the most dangerous time for them."

Yang Fuguang listened. He loved listening to Zhao Da's analysis of the battle situation because Zhao Da's analysis always had a different perspective. It wasn't just pedantic talk from military books, but it sounded very reasonable and insightful.

Then he added:

"And now? So what if the rebel army has occupied Yuncheng? What disadvantage has it brought to our army?"

Zhao Huai'an held up three fingers and said them one by one:

"Firstly, the grass army will not face any food shortages in the short term. If they are trapped in Caozhou, even if there is some food in the city, it will eventually run out. But once Yuncheng is captured, the situation will be very different. Yuncheng was originally the grain storage place for the Taiping Army, and the grass army can obtain some supplies after capturing it."

"The second point is that after they captured Yuncheng, they actually broke through the shackles of Juye Marsh. With Yuncheng in place, the grass army dared not cross Juye Marsh at all. Now, they can go directly from Juye Marsh into the Ji River, and then forage and replenish their manpower on both sides of the Ji River."

"The Taiping Army in Yunzhou is currently outnumbered and isolated. Whether they dare to engage the rebel army in open battle is another matter, so how dare they stop the rebel army from entering the Ji River?"

"If they advance along the Ji River, they will reach Yunzhou. If they can capture Yunzhou, they can drive straight into Qizhou and directly into the fertile heartland of the Pinglu Army. When the news reaches the front line in Yizhou, how could those Pinglu Army soldiers not clamor and return in disarray?"

"So, if the rebel army doesn't attack Yunzhou this time, that's fine. But if they do attack and break through, then everything will be over, and the Yizhou defense line will definitely collapse."

Upon hearing this, Yang Fuguang's expression turned solemn. He had only thought that the rebel army's occupation of Yuncheng had merely blocked their passage to Yizhou, but he hadn't expected the situation to be more serious than he had imagined.

If Zhao Da's prediction is correct, and those bandit troops are indeed using the strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao," then Yizhou is in danger.

But with Yang Shouchao as his trump card, Yang Fuguang was able to remain calm, so he asked:

"What's the third one?"

Zhao Huai'an shrugged and said:
"Thirdly, our suppression campaign was originally supposed to last only a few months. How could those bandits not be wiped out? After all, the development of Cao and Yun was already hindered. To the north was the Yellow River, and across from them were the three powerful vassal states of Hebei. To the west, 100,000 Xuanwu troops were guarding the river. The only places they could break through were Yanzhou and Songzhou. So, normally, if we surrounded them from all sides, it wouldn't be difficult to defeat them. But if they were to break out from Yizhou, and we had to chase after them, half the world would be in chaos!"

After speaking, Zhao Huai'an looked at Yang Fuguang and found that he was thinking.

Zhao Huai'an said all this to put Yang Fuguang under pressure and prepare him.

He needed to make Yang Fuguang understand the seriousness of the current situation. He saw that Yang Shouzhao as a shifty-eyed man and worried that if they relied on him to take Caozhou, they might miss the opportunity. If things developed as he had suggested, Yang Fuguang would be held responsible.

But to everyone's surprise, after hearing this, Yang Fuguang became even more determined in his choice. He said to Zhao Dadao:

"In that case, we must use this person even more; extraordinary times call for extraordinary people!"

Zhao Huai'an didn't understand why Yang Fuguang was so confident until the latter whispered his strategy to him, at which point he hesitantly nodded.
"Since you've arranged it this way, let's give it a try. If it really doesn't work out, I'll cover for you!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Fuguang was moved. He grabbed Zhao Huai'an's hand, which was resting below, and then clasped it tightly, deeply touched:

"Good brother! Let's take a gamble together. If we win, our whole family will be rich! If we lose... it's none of our business. After all, we've done our best. Who wouldn't understand us?"

Zhao Huai'an nodded, but secretly he was astonished.

I still have to associate with you eunuchs! Everything you do, you win and take it all, and if you lose, someone else pays the bill. Isn't that just a win-win situation?
In the past, Zhao Da would have strongly criticized this behavior and cursed that the Tang Dynasty was ruined by these scoundrels.

But now? The insect is actually myself?

Oh, that's alright!
Do it, do it however you want! Even the Emperor's servants don't care, why should we, Zhao Da, care?

　Chapter 2 will be released later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)