The spring of the first year of Xianqing was very important to the people of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Zhi will demonstrate his supreme majesty this year.
Wu Mei wants to replace the prince with his own son Li Hong.
Li Yifu ambitiously wanted to use oracle bones to reshape his voice in the court.
Yunchu was busy expanding cotton planting, busy tinkering with his cabbage business, and busy getting the people of Wannian County away from single agricultural cultivation and becoming rich, so as to fulfill his long-cherished wish to add gold foil to Chang'an.
Following the wishes of the above people, Li Ji is preparing to write a grand narrative about himself on the earth.
Now, with the power of gunpowder, he is intensively planning the Eastern Expedition. This time, he will recruit 21 Zhechong Prefectures in Longyou, 27 Zhechong Prefectures in Shandong, 19 Zhechong Prefectures in Hebei, and 700 naval warships.
In addition to the 20,000 armed guards on the left and right, and 500 generals above the seventh rank, a total of 260,000 troops were mobilized to quell Goguryeo in one fell swoop.
This time around, Wannian County and Chang'an County are the key areas for recruitment of soldiers and horses.
The soldiers from Wannian County were dispatched almost empty-handed, and the number of soldiers sent out reached an astonishing 3,100, which was almost more than the number of troops sent by the two Zhechong Prefectures.
If things go wrong, or there is a catastrophic defeat, there will definitely be scenes of crying everywhere and mourning in every household in the countryside of Wannian County.
Logically speaking, the Tang Dynasty's recruitment of soldiers would never be so inhumane. A Zhechong Mansion could send up to four regiments of troops, which is 1,200 people.
However, only one Zhechong Prefecture will appear in a state, which means that the number of prefectural soldiers mobilized by Wannian County is simply out of the ordinary.
If Wannian County was the only county with such a recruitment method, Yunchu could still appeal. The neighboring Chang'an County sent 2,900 troops this time. Not only did the stubborn Pei Xingjian not worry, but he happily asked the emperor for a war and said he would lead the troops.
He led the soldiers of Chang'an County to get a chance to become a marquis immediately.
This blocked Yunchu's avenue for appeal.
The troop transfer documents from the Ministry of War came down. Yun Chu looked at the thick list of names, and his scalp went numb. All the soldiers from the eighteen to fifty years old were on the queue for recruitment.
Yunchu, who had experienced hard wars, knew what was going on on the battlefield, and the song "War Chariots" written by Du Fu immediately sounded in his mind like thunder.
"New ghosts are annoyed and old ghosts are crying, and the sky is dark and rainy, with a wet chirping sound."
Just when Yunchu was sitting in the public house, stroking the thick roster and feeling upset, the noise outside the county government office was as loud as a busy city.
"What are you doing outside?"
The irritable Yun Chu roared, and immediately a small official came to report: "Your Majesty, there are many soldiers from the government outside, and they are all here to respond."
Yun Chu gritted his teeth and said, "Tell their family members not to make trouble. What comes this time is the emperor's order. No one can say anything. As long as they are on the roster, they will all be ordered to go out and they will not run away."
The clerk said strangely: "Your Majesty, no one is running away. Everyone wants to know if they are on the list right now. If so, go home and prepare equipment and go to Liaodong immediately."
Yun Chu was stunned for a moment and said, "Are they willing to go to Liaodong to fight?"
The clerk said: "Yes."
Yun Chu said: "Why?"
The clerk said: "This time we have strong soldiers and horses, and the commander-in-chief is Ying Gong. Ying Gong has also mobilized more than 500 powerful generals of the Tang Dynasty who are above the seventh rank. This time we went there to destroy Goguryeo.
As long as you follow the army to Liaodong, you won't have to fight in the next three years. If you are lucky and follow the right general, you may be able to get some trophies back. If you are lucky, you can get some military glory."
Yun Chu's eyes widened and he said, "Who said this?"
The clerk pointed outside and said, "What the soldiers said, some old guys who are obviously over fifty years old came to ask."
After hearing this, Yun Chu dropped the list and came to the county government office to look at it.
The originally noisy county government office suddenly became quiet.
Sure enough, the place was crowded with people. A casual glance at the military observation method showed that the number of people was not less than 2,000.
When Yunchu saw that everyone was looking at him eagerly, he coughed and said: "Liaodong is a bitter and cold place, and the conquest of Goguryeo is not something that can be accomplished in a short time.
At home, the cotton planting has more than tenfold increased this year, and so many livestock have been raised. Everyone has gone to fight. What will happen to the family's livelihood? Just rely on your parents, wife and children? "
It was obviously very inappropriate for Yun Chu to say such words at this time, but he still felt that he should speak clearly to these people.
An old soldier with gray hair stepped forward and saluted: "The county magistrate is taking pity on us soldiers. Fortunately, you guys know that the past two years have been good and the family has some surplus food.
The county took us ordinary people seriously. When food and clothing were in short supply, they would buy food at low prices and distribute relief from time to time, so the people were content.
Now that the border is unstable, the old man wants to use the knife while he can still wield it to smooth things over at the border, so that future generations will not have to fight again.
Good days should be enjoyed in peace, and don't make it difficult for us to live a good life here while the border is raging with war."
Yun Chu looked at this old man with an obviously sinister face and sighed in his heart, he is just a fucking veteran.
He didn't say a word about wanting to follow the army to Goguryeo and participate in the robbery, and he only said what Shangguan liked.
However, this is fine, the army should be more brutal and motivated, so that it can be brave when fighting.
Old soldier Youzi spoke, and the surrounding soldiers also agreed and seemed impatient.
Yunchu ordered Hu Cao to start ordering the numbers, issuing military posts, and distributed them to everyone on the roster.
With 3,100 people from Wannian County going out for the expedition, the entire county government immediately became busy. Although the soldiers from the government prepared everything except food and grass for the expedition.
However, Yunchu felt that as their parent-official, he had to prepare another armament for them no matter what.
Through Lao Huang, the director of the Palace Gate Bureau, Yun Chu replaced two hundred sets of tattered armor passed down by the soldiers' ancestors into 70% to 80% new armor through mysterious means.
They are all old anyway, and no one cares if they change from old to tattered. In addition, these armors are worn on the soldiers who are preparing to go into battle, and the armor itself should be worn on the soldiers, so there is no problem.
Yunchu also publicly destroyed the arrows made of bamboo that had been stored in the warehouse for many years. Some of the arrows had almost turned into bows due to poor storage.
Therefore, Yunchu tried to turn a large part of the bamboo arrows into straight arrows made of oak wood.
He also replaced a large part of the tattered bows in the hands of the soldiers, and added five bow strings to each bow.
The blacksmiths in Wannian County were also mobilized to reprocess and beat the weapons of the soldiers to make them look brand new.
There was nothing that could be done about the crossbows. The Ministry of War was very strict about these things. However, Yunchu still found a way to exchange items for the soldiers to get 500 crossbows and 50,000 crossbow arrows.
The most important thing is that Wannian County purchased 500 war horses from the market at one time to strengthen the number of cavalry soldiers in Wannian County.
It's a pity that no vests were obtained, so these war horses were unable to wear armor and fight.
Yunchu even went to Li Ji's house in person, hoping that the old commander could distribute some gunpowder to the Wannian County soldiers, but was spat out by him.
When I walked to the door, I heard Li Ji say, if you become a general and command the county soldiers for ten thousand years, gunpowder, thunder and fire bombs are not negotiable.
"They are just forcing you to go to the battlefield." He held a bronze mirror to check whether the fire boil on his face was mature or not, and his gentleness easily revealed the essence of the matter.
"If I go to the battlefield, believe it or not, where is the most dangerous place, the old thief will definitely send Wannian County soldiers there?"
"I believe this. If we go to a truly cruel battlefield, the Wannian County soldiers will not be able to reduce their casualties just because you are the commander.
With your current bad relationship with those old thieves, I even think that what you did in Kucha City will happen again."
"So, I can't go."
"Yes, you really can't go, but I heard that the person who leads the Wannian County soldiers may be Guo Daifeng. Ever since his father and his brother died in the battle of Kucha City, this guy has been bent on revitalizing the city.
Menlin, this guy is capable of taking the lives of thousands of county soldiers to increase his own military exploits."
"He dares!"
"Why don't you dare? After going to Liaodong, you are the general and driving the people under your command to death. What can you do or say in Chang'an?
Wait until he comes back and beat him?
Oh, that’s all it can do.”
After hearing Wen Wen's words, Yun Chu looked at him suspiciously and said, "Why do I feel that you are driving me to the battlefield?"
With a gentle grin, he finally squeezed out the pus from the boil. After wiping it with a handkerchief, he looked at the pimple of pus and blood on the handkerchief and nodded with satisfaction, "Don't you see it yet?
This time Xue Rengui will lead the 2,400 troops of the right army guard to fight, and Pei Xingjian will lead the 3,000 soldiers of Chang'an County to fight.
Since both of them are going to fight, will those old thieves let you go?
I even dare to say that the three of you are very likely to be the three forwards in this battle.
Otherwise, there is really no way to explain the mobilization of 3,100 soldiers from Wannian County."
Yunchu sighed and said: "I really don't like the battlefield. I made an oath when I was defending the city in Kucha City with the smell of corpses."
Wen Wen looked at Yun Chu and said, "Please give me a petition for war. I suspect that your majesty has not agreed to Pei Xingjian's petition for war until now. It is very likely that he is waiting for your petition for war."
Your target is Jing Zhaoyin. As you said before, the guard of the capital should be a tiger. No matter what happens, a fierce dog must be sent. No one dares to entrust the safety of Chang'an to a pig.
The battle in Liaodong was the best environment to test who was the pig, who was the fierce dog, and who was the fierce tiger.
Don't worry, if you go to the memorial hall, I will go too. Together we will take this group of people from Wannian County to see if we can get one of them to become a marquis immediately.
In the Tang Dynasty, those without military merit could not get a real title. This is not comparable to the virtual title you get from growing weeds."
Yun Chu lowered his head and was silent for a moment and said, "Let me think about it again."
You watch first, I'll continue
This chapter has been completed!