After passing Yanmen, you can see the hills and mountains to the north of Xingling. The trees in the river valley that are not very dense have turned yellow. The autumn weather is also a bit bit cold, and the strong wind is blowing all kinds of flags.
More than 50,000 horses came out of the Dongxixing Fortress and moved slowly like dense ant colonies in the narrow valley roads, like streams flowing peacefully. But after entering the more open and flat valley plains,
As the array spreads out and gathers together, it seems like a vast ocean has gathered between the earth.
In the battle formation, swords and spears reflected the less dazzling sunshine in the autumn afternoon, giving it a somewhat forbidding atmosphere. However, after leaving the fortress, they did not encounter the powerful enemy forces they had imagined. Many soldiers felt lucky.
I felt a little more anxious and uneasy.
Several knights galloped over from north to south with arrows on their backs. They stood up in stirrups, waved excitedly at the army stopped in front of the hillside and shouted:
"General Liu Yan has led the vanguard cavalry and has fallen into Yingzhou! General Liu Yan has led the vanguard cavalry and has fallen into Yingzhou! Quickly report to the envoy, a great victory! A great victory!"
Did this mean that Yingzhou, which was guarded by the remnants of the Khitan clan, was captured? The soldiers, who were expected to fight hard, looked at each other in shock when they heard the news, but then they cheered.
"What are you shouting at the bottom of the mountain? Are those people the messengers sent back by Liu Yan?"
Liu Shizhong and Cai Yuanyou, who was once again the governor of Hedong, personally led the main force of the Chinese army out of the Yanmen Fortress and headed north. At this time, they were standing on the hillside with many generals on horseback to look at the army, and watched several cavalrymen galloping towards them.
, yelling something outside the army, asking the generals around them what was going on.
The messenger knight had not yet been led to the hill, but the cheering sounds of the army could be heard one after another.
"Congratulations to the envoy, the eldest son sent someone to deliver the good news. The vanguard troops and horses have achieved a great victory in the first battle and have captured Yingzhou City!" Several generals who were guarding the military formation halfway up the mountain, after hearing the news clearly, climbed up
The crowd rushed to Liu Shizhong to announce the good news, shouting in an exaggerated tone.
"Liu Yan just led 5,000 forward troops to capture a small city. Why should he be so panicked? A bunch of idiots who have never seen the world." Liu Shizhong stroked his long frost-white beard and forcefully pursed the corners of his mouth that subconsciously wanted to grin.
Stop, and with a straight face, he scolded the several generals who hurriedly came over to convey victory, and then ordered the secretary beside him, "Send someone quickly to convey the order to Liu Yan: He must not slack off in capturing Yingzhou City, and Tianxiong's army must be used."
As a warning, don't rush to pursue the fleeing bandits. You should give priority to clearing out the remaining enemies in the city. Send more scouts to the Huihe River for reconnaissance. Keep an eye on the movements of the prisoners in Datong. Don't underestimate the enemy..."
The secretary quickly drafted the order letter leaning on the saddle and handed it to Liu Shizhong for review. Liu Shizhong nagged a few more words, asking the secretary to add more, but he was cautious. He should do more reconnaissance if there was nothing to do, and don't act rashly. He waited until the main force of the Chinese army arrived.
Go to Yingzhou and wait for warnings.
A middle-aged man with slender cheeks stood on the right side of Cai Yuanyou, leaned half of his body from behind, and smiled at Liu Shizhong:
"In the past, the Yue thieves were treacherous and secretly collaborated with the captive thieves, causing Tianxiong's army to be carelessly defeated in Datong. We need to learn from this. However, the military princes have always had the demeanor of a general. According to Zhichang, commanding troops in battle is actually no worse than managing an army.
How many times? The military prince had no opportunity to make meritorious deeds before. This time he wanted to fight with all his strength, so the generals should not be restrained too much. I see, the captors have lost Beiting, and it is normal for the army to be demoralized.
A military prince must be able to conquer Datong in one go, without the help of red soldiers, and then he can truly help the official family earn face..."
"My old Liu family has been favored by the emperor, how dare I not obey orders and be loyal?" Liu Shizhong laughed loudly and said, "Of course, all this still depends on the planning of Prime Minister Cai and Mr. Shao. We rough warriors only know how to act according to the plan!"
"Liu Linggong is so complimentary," Cai Yuanyou, a thin-faced, narrow-eyed, fair-skinned man, lightly stroked his sparse beard, smiled slightly, and said modestly to Liu Shizhong, "all this is due to the official command of the imperial pen..."
Although the Tianxiong Army's defeat in Datong was still fresh in our minds, none of the Xiao Sheng and Xuanwu generals thought that they were partly responsible for it.
In their eyes, the Northern Army was weak and the Western Army was recognized as elite by the world. This was vividly reflected in Yanyue's border provocations seventeen or eighteen years ago. The Tianxiong Army was defeated in Datong. This was just this.
It's just history repeating itself.
Liu Shizhong pretended to say a few polite words, but he still couldn't resist the generals and officials who came like a tide to congratulate him.
Zhu Zhi stood in the crowd, looking at the uncontrollable joy on the faces of Liu Shizhong, Cai Yuanyou and others, as well as the arrogance of the generals, and couldn't help but look to the west with some worry.
He couldn't help but think, if Xu Huai were here, how would he view the Yan army's campaign again and easily capture Yingzhou City, and how would he view the Chihu people's response in the north?
Zhu Zhi returned to Bianjing with Wang Zhen, Wang Fan and others. He was awarded the title of Flying Cavalry Lieutenant for his merits and was appointed as the Secretary of the Ministry of War.
Although among the many official positions in the capital, Shu Ling Shi can only be regarded as a minor one, but at his age, even with a prominent life experience and no imperial examinations, it is not easy to enter the official career.
Although the Ministry of War had extremely limited authority in major military and political affairs in Dai Viet, the assessment of military merit, the transfer, distribution and consumption of weapons, food and fodder were still inseparable from the participation of the Ministry of War.
Zhu Zhi and several other officials from the Ministry of War's Book and History Department accompanied Zhu Juncong, a doctor in the Ministry of War, to conquer Yan this time. However, the conquering Yan army set up another transfer envoy to take charge of the transfer of grain, fodder and weapons. They were mainly responsible for the corresponding matters.
Supervisors are much more leisurely than other generals.
Compared with the frivolous complacency he felt when he followed his father Zhu Hang, Wang Fan and others to Hedong last time, Zhu Zhi, who experienced the defeat and retreat of Datong, could be considered a life-or-death experience.
In particular, he personally experienced from beginning to end how sure of victory and complacent the generals of the Tianxiong Army were at the beginning, and how arrogant and indulgent they were when they first attacked Datong City. When the enemy cavalry attacked Shengdemen, he saw with his own eyes how Ge Huaicong
How panic-stricken the others were.
Although Ge Boyi tried his best to shift the blame to Yue Hailou's secret communication with the enemy, after being recalled to Bianjing, he still could not withstand the attacks from officials and the government and the public, and was eventually demoted to Huangzhou as the deputy envoy of Tuanlian. Hearing that
As soon as he arrived in Huangzhou, he contracted a serious illness on the way and was bedridden.
Regardless of whether Ge Boyi retired due to illness or not, the Ge family had been prominent in Hedong for several generations, and it was finally over at this time.
Zhu Zhi also heard that after Ge Boyi and his tribe arrived in Beijing, they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on various requests to reduce their guilt, so that more than a hundred tribesmen could only buy a small farm outside Bianjing City to live in. They were in extreme poverty.
Zhu Zhi also felt deeply after witnessing the downfall of the arrogant Ge family.
In just one year of experience, he was young and energetic and had washed away all his impetuousness and madness. His father Zhu Hang's many sincere teachings could also be heard. Naturally, it was inevitable that he would be influenced by Wang Zhen and have a strong influence on Chi Hu.
Will people be treacherous and full of worries?
This time he came to Hedong again and learned that among the newly formed Yan army, there were some generals who were also skeptical and worried about the Red Husbands, but there were still too few to make a big impact. They didn't even dare to attack Liu Shizhong or Cai.
Yuan You showed up in front of these resolute war-fighting generals.
After Zhu Zhi arrived in Taiyuan this time, his father Zhu Hang asked him to send him a letter. He sent someone to Shuozhou, but there was no response from Shuozhou.
Zhu Zhi never had the chance to go to Shuozhou in person, and he had no idea what Xu Huai would think of this serious and serious plan to join forces with the Red Husbands to attack Yan.
Although Zhu Tong and Xun Tingheng, who served as officials in the Six Ministries of Bianjing and lived in his Zhu family's house, looked down upon Xu Huai every time, Zhu Zhi had experienced the chaos of the collapse of Datong and saw with his own eyes what Xu Huai was.
How to frighten those chaotic and crazy troops, and how to hold on to a glimmer of hope in the desperate chaos.
Although Zhu Zhi still disliked Xu Huai deep down in his heart, he also recognized his uncle Wang Fan's judgment that Xu Huai was a young owl who was fierce and brave, and no one might be able to control him in the future.
Even though his father wanted to send a message to Xu Huai, Zhu Zhi still had great hesitation in his heart about whether to go to Shuozhou to meet Xu Huai in person because of this.
…………
…………
At this time, it was a bit colder than outside the mountain at the Tianchi Lake in Guanluo Mountain. Around the clear lake water, the branches and leaves had withered, and with a gust of wind, a yellow leaf floated down.
The Mayinghai Temple on the Hubei coast has been renovated and has a new look, attracting many monks to stay here.
Cao Shixiong asked his younger brother Cao Shili and general Meng Ping to take charge of the military and political power of Lanzhou. However, he led his retinue at every turn and invited Lanzhou scholars to go to Mayinghai Temple. In addition to worshiping the Buddha, he often taught Buddhist scriptures to the monks.
Just a few days.
This allowed Cao Shixiong to win a good reputation among Lanzhou scholars in a short period of time.
The news that Liu Yan, the son of Liu Shizhong and the first general of the Xiao Sheng Army, led his troops to capture Yingzhou reached Lanzhou, and Cao Shixiong once again climbed Guanjuan Mountain surrounded by his retinue.
This time he did not enter Mayinghai Temple directly, but stood on the bank of Tianchi Lake and looked at the sparkling water.
"Cao Langjun is worried that the great victory of the Vietnamese army in Yingzhou will be a disaster rather than a blessing?"
When Cao Shixiong heard the voice, he turned around and saw a Tibetan monk standing together in the corridor and saluting him.
Cao Shixiong donated money to repair Mayinghai Temple and ordered the temple to accept monks from all over the world. Even if the Tibetan monks wanted to live here, they could not refuse.
This Tibetan monk named Shimojiu traveled to the Western Regions in his early years and was well-informed. After stationed at Mayinghai Temple in Xi, Cao Shixiong also liked to talk to him and inquire about his various experiences during his travels to the Western Regions and Mobei.
It's just that Cao Shixiong, as the commander of the Tianxiong Army and the governor of Lanzhou, only learned about Liu Yan's capture of Yingzhou before climbing the mountain. How could Shimojiu guess what he was worried about?
"I wonder if Master has any good prescription that can relieve Cao's worries?" Cao Shixiong hid the sparkle in his eyes and clasped his hands together and asked.
