The northern Jingzhou prefecture governed Fuliu City in the Yi River Basin. After Li Tai received the transfer order, he led his troops to Luoyang to join the troops from western Henan who had withdrawn from Heqiao, and then continued southward via Yique in Luonan.
It only took a few days to arrive at Fuliu City.
At this time, Li Bi's troops were also withdrawing from Yangzhai and passed through Fuliu City. With Li Bi's cooperation, Li Tai took over the city defense and sent Li Bi out of the country. Only then did he have time to summon the generals here.
, and make specific arrangements for the military affairs within his position.
"I have finally met Duke Xihe."
In front of the gate of the camp outside Fuliu City, two generals in military uniforms crossed their arms to salute Li Tai.
Li Bi went to Heluo this time and only took away the Bafu soldiers and horses brought from Guanxi. There were also two troops left in Fuliu City and returned to Li Tai's control. They were the Buqu Xiang soldiers commanded by Zheng Wei of Xingyang.
and the local volunteers in Henan led by General Zhao Gang.
Li Tai and Zheng Wei were acquainted, and his son Zheng Quan also served as the best man at his wedding. Seeing each other here, they were both in a happy mood.
As for the cavalry general Zhao Gang, he is not a stranger. He has met his father-in-law Duguxin several times before. Zhao Gang has been active in the Henan area all year round, even though the states in Henan have fallen to the Eastern Wei Dynasty. Back then, He Basheng and Dugu
When the letter came to Nanliang as a guest, it was only thanks to Zhao Gang who served as an envoy to inform Nanliang that he was able to return.
"You two generals don't need to be polite. Although there are masters and subordinates in the job, I still have to rely on you to ensure that you fulfill your duties."
Since they were all acquaintances, Li Tai had no need to put on airs to emphasize his authority and waved his hand to invite the generals to join him in the camp to discuss matters.
When he left Kansai before, Li Tai's troops had more than 5,000 troops. After several battles, they were captured and collected. Now, the troops of his troops are nearly 7,000, including deputy general Tian Hong and others. They also came with him.
Fuliu City.
Among the troops in western Henan, in addition to Han Xiong, Wei Fabao, Li Yisun, Chen Xin, Wei Xuan and other generals who have been cooperating with each other, the total number of troops in their respective tribes is more than 12,000. These troops were previously in Nancheng, Heyang.
It was fully armed and now it was placed under the command of Li Tai.
The two groups of Zheng Wei and Zhao Gang had more than 6,000 troops in total, but their military appearance was inferior to that of the Western Henan Volunteer Army, and their troops were even worse than Li Tai's own troops.
The total number of these men and horses totaled more than 25,000. This is the force that Li Tai currently controls. It can also be said to be the largest number of men and horses he has commanded since he joined the army.
There are three tasks assigned to Li Tai by Bafu. The first is to defend Fuliu City in Northern Jingzhou, the second is to cooperate with Wang Sizheng, and the third is to rescue Hou Jing.
The importance of the three tasks decreases in order. Defending Fuliu City is naturally the most important. With the success of the two cities in Heyang, Daxingtai Yuwentai obviously wants to fight again between Heluo and Luo to ensure the security around the battlefield.
is very important.
Li Tai was assigned to the south gate of the Heluo area. The most important task was to ensure that the chaos in Henan would not spread to Heluo. Therefore, it was not only Fuliu City, but also a series of Henan entrances and exits such as Shenyuan Pass.
He needs to carefully guard all the passages.
While ensuring this premise, Li Tai must also be responsible for cooperating with Wang Sizheng to take over as much of Hou Jing's personnel power in Henan as possible.
Wang Sizheng entered Henan with only more than 10,000 Jingzhou troops under his command. The deployment of troops was inevitably stretched. Some places that were difficult to control directly would naturally require Li Tai to send troops to provide a certain degree of assistance.
As for rescuing Hou Jing, that is of course just talk. As long as Li Tai leads his army to appear in the surrounding areas of Henan, it is equivalent to giving Hou Jing rare support. If he really takes this matter seriously, the boss Yuwen
Tae had to deal with him instead.
After analyzing the severity of the matter, Li Tai began to arrange the troops under his command.
Fuliu City was the core of this mission. Li Tai arranged for 10,000 troops to be stationed there. The main force of 3,000 troops plus the main forces of the volunteer divisions in western Henan Province all stayed in Fuliu City and could not be transferred easily.
As for other passes, different numbers of garrison troops were stationed according to local conditions and the importance of their respective geographical locations.
In this regard, the abilities of local snakes such as Li Yisun have come to the fore. Not only do they know the geographical situation well, but they are also very familiar with the various power situations in the region. They can make full use of the local powerful and barbarian armed forces to coordinate
Be vigilant and defensive to prevent the main force from being too dispersed in the area. You only need to focus on guarding a few key core locations and be prepared to respond to surrounding strongholds at any time.
After such an arrangement, Li Tai still had more than 10,000 mobile forces in his hands that could be mobilized from all directions at any time. He could deploy them all the way east along the Ru River and all the way to the Henan plains.
When the defense arrangements around Fuliu City were almost completed, Li Tai also received a message from Yangzhai, and Wang Sizheng invited him to meet him.
Li Tai did not have any direct experience of dealing with Wang Sizheng, but he did have indirect memories.
When he first came to this world, he was on the evacuation road from Hengnong to Tongguan. At that time, the guard of Hengnong was Wang Sizheng. Because of his background, Wang Sizheng was given a skinny donkey to travel with him, but he
His weapons were impounded at Hennon.
After reminiscing like this, his impression of Wang Sizheng was not very vivid. Li Tai only felt that his butt hurt a little again. Putting aside his curiosity about Wang Sizheng and his affairs, he really needed to go to Yangzhai to fully communicate with Wang Sizheng.
Only then can we cooperate flexibly in the future.
So Li Tai led more than a thousand light cavalry and headed east along Ru River under the leadership of Zhao Gang and others who had just withdrawn from there.
From Fuliucheng to the east, there is a distance of nearly a hundred miles that still belongs to the mountainous area of Waifang Mountain. The road is winding and rugged, but the valleys along the way gradually become more open. When we pass through Rubei, we officially enter the Henan Plain.
As far as the field of vision extends, there are almost no obvious geographical obstacles except some natural and artificial river channels.
Li Tai and his entourage were galloping in the plains until they had traveled dozens of miles to the northeast. Only in the distance could they see the ups and downs of the mountain topography. However, compared with the tall and stretching Qinling Mountains, these hills with low and gentle slopes were just that.
Like an ordinary dirt slope.
This river plain is the world-famous Yingchuan, which was able to nourish a series of famous families in the late Han Dynasty. The natural environment and farming conditions of Yingchuan are naturally excellent.
Just between Ruying, where Li Tai was traveling, villages of all sizes were scattered across the wilderness. Even in some sparsely populated wilderness areas, you could see many traces of artificially built river banks, ditches, and rivers that often stretched for dozens of miles.
A hectare of wild mulberry forest.
With such a superior natural environment, the folk customs must be quite simple. Because even committing crimes requires a lot of brainpower and effort. If you have that time, you might as well circle a field to cultivate and weave.
Anyway, Li Tai was really greedy for what he saw along the way. If he could carve out a piece of land here to develop safely, the income from farming alone would be much better than that in Guanzhong, let alone the ravine-ridden northern Shaanxi.
Of course, it is not easy to sit on such a piece of land. Even Hou Jing, the most vicious among the soldiers, cannot sit back and enjoy all this in peace, and will be chased out soon.
Running around like wild dogs.
However, after walking on the ground, Li Tai somewhat understood why Wang Sizheng wanted to set up his platform in Yingchuan, where it was somewhat inconvenient to attack and defend. As long as such a fertile land is occupied, he can quickly accumulate a considerable amount of land.
Money, food and materials, these are precious war potentials!
Of course, Wang Sizheng himself may not have such thoughts, but this has nothing to do with Li Tai.
He came here originally as an assistant. Although he would put forward certain opinions on how Wang Sizheng would run the business next, if Wang Sizheng just didn't listen, he could only put aside his desire to help others and respect the fate of others.
Yangzhai City is located on the west bank of Yingshui, facing Jishan Mountain in the distance. The city is not too large, and there is a large fort outside the city.
"The last general, Guo Xian, has been ordered by the Prince of Taiyuan to welcome Duke Xihe. The lord has already held a simple banquet in the camp, so you can go directly to Duke Xihe."
As soon as Li Tai and his party arrived at the west bank of Yingshui River, a group of soldiers rode up to meet Li Tai at the camp gate opposite. The leading general clasped his fists at Li Tai from a distance and said.
"General Lao Guo."
Li Tai nodded in response, and when he arrived at the camp gate, he ordered Gao Le and others who were accompanying him to let the horses drink along the river. He only took a dozen of his followers into the camp under the leadership of Guo Xian.
The group of people soon arrived at the Chinese army's tent. Outside the tent, a tall middle-aged man wearing an old robe and a neatly trimmed beard stood in front of the door surrounded by people. When they saw Li Taixing coming,
, he raised his hand to call me from afar and said with a smile: "Li Boshan, do you remember me?"
"I have met Mr. Taiyuan. I met him in a hurry in Hengnong last year. Unexpectedly, I turned around and saw him again several years ago. Mr. Taiyuan's demeanor is as good as yesterday. I am still fresh in my memory. How dare I forget!"
Facing this world-famous general, Li Tai did not dare to treat him arrogantly. After hearing this, he cupped his fists in salute and responded with a smile.
Wang Sizheng looked very happy to see Li Tai. He raised his arm and patted Li Tai's shoulder, still smiling and saying: "The son of the Li family has a beautiful voice and appearance, which makes people fall in love with him at first sight. I don't care about your greed for merit anymore."
Rushing in is a bad deed that hinders my plan. It's just that I have to drink a few more drinks when I go to the table later to relieve the pent-up anger of my subordinates."
After Li Tai heard this, the smile on his face suddenly faded. He leaned slightly to avoid Wang Sizheng's hand patting his shoulder, and then said: "The Taiyuan public opinion is very unfair, which is puzzling. The general was ordered to come here to help."
Ji, this is what you are doing. If you have something to do, you may as well speak up. Even if the general is unable to deal with it, there are still talented people in the country who can be used!"