Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Over time, Li You accumulated more and more geographical information, and all 360 prefectures of the Tang Dynasty were now marked.

Moreover, this map not only marks the names of the prefectures, but also the various military outposts established by the Tang army in different places, as well as the number of troops stationed there.

Marking troop distributions is more time-consuming and labor-intensive than marking state names.

The Tang Dynasty established more than 630 military districts in various regions, with a total military strength of more than 600,000.

These 600,000-plus troops constituted the regular army of the Tang Dynasty. Other militia and private armies were not included.

Among them, Guannei Circuit, also known as Zhechong Prefecture in the Guanzhong region, comprised more than 260 prefectures with a total military strength of 270,000, all under the jurisdiction of the twelve central guards. The troops of Guannei Circuit were considered the central army of the Tang Dynasty, possessing the strongest fighting power.

Secondly, there was Hedong Circuit, which consisted of more than 130 prefectures around Taiyuan, with a total military strength of 130,000. They guarded the Hebei region and their combat power was comparable to that of the Central Army.

Next was Henan Circuit, which consisted of more than sixty prefectures surrounding Luoyang, with a total military strength of 6, mainly responsible for the defense of the Luoyang area.

Due to some historical issues, the number of Zhechong Prefectures in Hebei Province is relatively small, with only more than 30 and a total military strength of around 40,000.

The remaining 150 Zhechong Prefectures were scattered across vast areas including Shandong, Jiangbei, Jiangnan, Lingnan, Shannan, and Jiannan. These Zhechong Prefectures had relatively few soldiers, and many were understaffed, totaling only about 100,000. Their combat effectiveness was generally weak, and they were mostly responsible for maintaining order.

This shows that Guanzhong and Taiyuan were the regions where the Tang Dynasty had the strongest military presence, and it was also the place where the Li Tang dynasty rose to power.

Other areas are considered relatively minor defense zones, and their combined forces account for 30% of the total forces.

These 600,000-plus soldiers, in terms of both numbers and combat strength, represent the limit of the Tang Dynasty's three-hundred-year history.

In other words, in terms of military capability, the Tang Dynasty reached its peak at its founding.

After the Zhenguan era, even during the Tianbao era, the total military strength was only 57, of which 49 were under the command of the border military governors, leaving only 8 troops in the central government.

"Uncle, after expanding the army, we will begin preparing for our first military operation."

"Where are you planning to start the fight?"

"Right here," Li You pointed to the map, "still in Shandong!"

……

The monks' slaves were sent up the mountain in batches.

Yan Hongxin, Zan Junmo, Gao Shen, and Zhang Lan led 1000 elite troops from the Northern Army Camp and the Wild Wolf Camp to Xuzhou to carry out this secret mission.

The straight-line distance from Suizhou to Xuzhou is over 1200 li, but if you travel by water, it will be more than 2000 li.

However, in the south, traveling by water was more convenient. Moreover, with the accumulation of experience in the early stages, Huang Chao's army had already acquired its own fleet of ships, which could be used to transport troops in times of war and to serve as a means of currency exchange in times of peace.

After drifting on the boat for more than thirty days, Yan Hongxin and his men finally arrived at the Xuzhou temple described by the assassins.

Li You instructed them that the target was the slaves in the monks' quarters, and that the monks and nuns in the temple should not be killed indiscriminately unless they had committed serious crimes.

After discussion, Yan Hongxin first sent out a small team to accompany the merchants who were staying at the temple in batches, and to take the opportunity to contact the monks and slaves to test whether they were willing to leave this "pit of fire".

The result was unexpected. Of the more than 500 monks and slaves, about half deeply resented the oppression of the temple and were very willing to leave this hellhole with the "merchants." The other half were extremely grateful to the temple, feeling that life in the temple was a thousand times better than outside, that the temple had given them a second life, and that they were willing to stay there forever.

Yan Hongxin, Gao Shen, and the others were quite surprised, but after asking them in detail, they learned the truth.

It turns out that those who thought temples were bad were originally slaves who had suffered torture since childhood. They were sold to temples and did the hardest and most tiring work, so naturally they were willing to follow Huang Chao's army.

Those who find temples desirable are mostly ordinary people who voluntarily sold themselves into monastic life. Before doing so, these individuals had negotiated with the temples, agreeing on the limits regarding their duties and responsibilities. Once inside, the monks and nuns did not excessively criticize them, which is why they felt life there was better than outside.

Therefore, there are also eighteen levels of hell. Although the seventeenth level is also a place of suffering, it is still better than the eighteenth level.

Since that's the case, there's no need to forcefully attack the temple. Just open a path for the monks and slaves who want to leave and let them escape.

On the night the rescue operation began, the "merchants" set fire to several locations in the temple at the same time.

While the entire temple was fighting the fire, more than 200 monks and servants fled out of the temple through the gate where swill was delivered, and their whereabouts have been unknown ever since.

Throughout the entire operation, apart from a few monks who exhausted themselves running and died, all the other monks survived.

By the time the temple realized something was wrong and prepared to report to the authorities, the group had already boarded a boat and sailed more than a hundred miles away.

Seeing that it wasn't that difficult, Huang Chao's soldiers followed suit and raided more than twenty temples in a row.

The threshold of the government office in Xuzhou was almost worn down by the endless stream of abbots who came to file complaints.

Although they usually bully these monks and servants, without them, the temple's various businesses would not be able to operate, and they wouldn't even be able to cultivate the land, so the abbots were naturally anxious.

The government realized that someone must be organizing the escape of the monks' residence slaves, so they sent out soldiers from the Zhechong Prefecture to search everywhere. In the end, they ran into a group of Huang Chao's soldiers.

The two sides immediately engaged in battle. The elite troops trained by Gao Shen and Zhang Lan fought with fearlessness and in the end, the entire army of over 300 Xuzhou garrison soldiers was wiped out. In addition to those who died in battle, another 50 were taken prisoner. On the other hand, Huang Chao's army suffered no more than 20 casualties.

Although the small-scale battles were fought well, Yan Hongxin and his men understood that they should stop exploiting Xuzhou here. If they continued, the troops from Suzhou, Haozhou, and Yanzhou would gather and encircle and suppress Huang Chao's army, which would be counterproductive.

So he quickly pulled away and returned to the mountain stronghold.

In the end, it was estimated that as many as 3000 monks and slaves were sent to the mountain stronghold.

If this is the case in Xuzhou, what about other places where Buddhism flourished?

Li Youdao said, "It seems that this matter needs to be treated as a long-term task."

"My lord, we've inquired around the area and found that there are relatively few temples north of the river, while there are truly many temples south of the river."

Upon hearing this, Li You couldn't help but recall a line of Tang poetry.

There are four hundred and eighty temples in the Southern Dynasty, and there are many towers in the mist.

"Great, then let's go to Jiangnan to rescue more slaves from the monasteries."

"Gao Shen, Zhang Lan, you two don't need to go to Jiangnan anymore. Leave this matter to Hong Xin and Hong Liang. You two go back to Bozhou now and expand the troops there to six thousand men."

"My lord, are we going to expand our army?"