Chapter 4: Subversion (three times) After arousing everyone's emotions, Asahi struck while the iron was hot and assigned the tasks that needed to be carried out in the near future one by one.
The upcoming battle will be a major showdown that may last two or three months, and retaking the canal is just the first step. Based on the intelligence at hand and years of military experience, Li Xu does not think that the heroes of Wagang will just sit back and watch. The army regained control of the river
Tongji Canal is as important to Wagang Village as it is to the imperial court. Back then, the Wagang Army slowly accumulated capital by plundering passing ships on the river. Now, according to Li Xu's understanding, the Wagang Army changed In order to use the canal in another way, they charge protection fees for civilian and merchant ships and then let them go, and only then do they completely intercept official ships.
Therefore, after the stronghold on the east bank of the canal was also attacked by the official army, in order to ensure the living source of wealth of Tongji Canal, Li Mi had to lead his troops out of the mountain even if he was unwilling to hastily engage the official army. In this way, the battle will shift to the second phase. At this stage, various officers and soldiers directly face the main force of Wagang. At this moment, the most powerful fighting force of Wagang Army and its chief general Xu Maogong are in Baihua Valley. As long as Pei Renji, Qin Shubao and others who guard Hulao Pass can block the attack. On the way back from the camp to the east, Xu Maogong will be out of reach of the battle near the canal.
Unless Xu Maogong takes the risk of giving up the Baihua Valley he just acquired and takes a detour from the side of Hulao Pass near the Yellow River, the battle will enter the third and very critical stage. Li Xu will arrange another more perfect trap waiting for him halfway.
In order to keep secrets, Xuzi only assigned the generals their respective goals in the first phase of the combat operation. For the second phase, he only briefly speculated on its possibilities and did not elaborate on his plans. In order to ensure that Xu Maogong and Li Mi were cut off, Because of the connection between people, he resolutely ordered the most complete fighting force among the various armies. Hu Yalang moved Wang Bian and his troops to Xingyang City, forming an angle with Pei Renji's Hulao garrison, locking Baihua from a distance. valley
As for the possible third stage of the battle, Xu Zi hid it deep in his heart. If God must arrange a duel between the two, Li Xu hopes that the decisive battle will be as late as possible. He needs some time to get used to his subordinates. There are soldiers and horses from all walks of life, and he needs some time to harden his heart and raise the black knife against the friends who shared life and death.
"Among the troops in Wagang Outer Camp, there are some very powerful ones. General, please be careful!" After other generals left one after another, Pei Renji stayed behind and whispered advice.
"Thank you, Brother Deben, for reminding me. I don't know much about the enemy's situation. I would like to ask Brother Deben to inform you in detail about the specific situation of the Wagang camps!" Li Xu responded with a smile and hugged his fists.
The two of them had been together in Liaodong, so Xuzi still maintained the habit of addressing each other, but Pei Renji did not dare to be arrogant in front of him. He quickly bowed down and returned the full salute, "General, break the kill." The last general! You and I are masters and slaves now. The last general should tell you everything you know and say everything you want!"
"Brother Deben, please don't say that. In front of outsiders, I naturally want to act like a general. Now there are only you and me in the tent. If we continue to talk about our status, isn't it too pretentious?" Li Xu laughed again, Whisper a protest
"Then it's better to obey orders than to be respectful!" Pei Renji bowed to Li Xu again, then leaned over and sat down halfway on the Hu stool next to Shuai's case.
"Originally, I should have brought Shu Bao and Shi Xin to see you to express my love for you brothers, but Xu Ze Mao Gong was so powerful that I had to leave the two warriors in Hulao Pass to prevent Xu Ze Mao from sniffing
What's the flaw!" After sitting firmly, Pei Renji took the initiative to explain
"Brother Deben is right to be cautious. Xu Maogong is indeed cunning and changeable in his use of troops! As for Shubao and Shixin, I think we will have many opportunities to meet again in the future!" Li Xu smiled and expressed his understanding of Pei Renji's arrangement.
Deep down, he was slightly disappointed that when he was fighting alone in the Yongqiu and Kaifeng areas, it was Wang Bian who came to join him instead of Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin. But after thinking about it, the current status of the two old friends was indeed embarrassing, so soon
Then he looked away and stopped complaining about the other party's indifference.
"Both of them are enemies of thousands of men, but it's a pity that they were buried among the county soldiers!" Pei Renji heard that Li Xu didn't mean to blame himself, and added with a smile, "I can successfully control the elites of Qi County, thanks to the two of them.
A few days ago, I have written down the specific merits of the two generals in the form, and sent them to Dongdu. But the style of doing things in Dongdu, alas, the general must know better than me..."
Mentioning the various shortcomings in the use and selection of talents by the imperial court, Li Xu and Pei Renji shook their heads at each other. The former was lucky to have His Majesty the Emperor backing him, so his official career was relatively smooth, while the latter had Dr. Guanglu when they first met Li Xu.
, Wu Benlang's false title of general has been ups and downs in the officialdom since then. He endured it until his hair turned white, and then he managed to fill the real gap of Tongshou again.
After several long sighs, the distance between the two parties immediately narrowed a lot. "Brother Deben, it is better to sit upright and speak, otherwise you will not feel comfortable and I will feel awkward looking at you!" Li Xu smiled and asked.
"Hi, hi, haven't I seen Zhongjian for a long time? I didn't expect you to be as outspoken as before!" Pei Renji touched his head embarrassedly, smiled and sat down on the bench, "Actually, I would rather
Standing, my body is accustomed to riding horses, and when I sit down, my butt feels as painful as a sore!"
"Then let's stand next to the map and talk together!" Li Xu pointed to the map of the situation between the enemy and ourselves spread out on the ground and suggested
"That's fine. I remember this was the case when we were in Liaodong!"
The topic turned to marching and fighting. Pei Renji immediately let go of all restraints and squatted down. He tapped the numbers on the east side of the canal that marked the general size of the Wagang battalions and said with a smile: "You must be a general who has fought a hundred battles."
We don’t just look at the number of heads. There are not many soldiers in each battalion of Wagang Army who can fight, but those ordinary bear generals, all of them wish they could have a million bear soldiers!"
"I have fought against them many times, and I feel that although there were few soldiers in the Wagang inner camp at that time, their combat effectiveness was comparable to that of the official army. As for the outer camp, they were just a mob after all!" Li Xu shook his head slightly and expressed his opinion about the combat effectiveness of the Wagang army.
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"Yes, the inner camp was later changed to the broken camp. I think it was to imitate the story of Gao Shun in the Three Kingdoms. Now he is stationed in Baihua Valley, eyeing Hulao and Xingyang. The outer camp is still divided according to the hills before the thieves joined. Where is the base?
Yes, the situation in any camp is roughly the same, but it cannot be generalized. If we talk about the current situation of the Wagang Army, it really has something to do with the general!" Pei Renji smiled and added that when Li Xu looked confused, he pointed his finger again
Pointing to the plain next to Tongji Canal near Yuanwu, he asked in a low voice: "I remember that Zhongjian once fought with Li Mi here, and defeated his tens of thousands of troops with more than a thousand cavalry?"
"That time he was too arrogant and it was not easy to win. Li Mi took advantage of the large number of people on his side and was overconfident, so I got the chance!" Li Xu thought about it and admitted that this battle was a classic battle he had commanded.
One, recalling it still makes people excited, so although I spoke modestly, my excited tone was revealed unknowingly.
Pei Renji raised his head and glanced at Li Xu in surprise. Then he thought about the fact that the other party was only in his early twenties. He paused with relief and said, "As far as I know, since I lost to you on the canal,
, Li Mi advocated the reorganization of the army in Wagang, and the soldiers and horses from the outer camps were indeed concentrated in the stronghold for training for a period of time. But later, the transportation of food and grass was inconvenient, and you and the old general Zhang Xutuo were pressing hard, so the thieves had to
Once it has been broken into pieces, it will never be put back together again!"
"It must have been during that training that Xu Maogong made wedding clothes for others again!" Li Xu never had a good impression of bandits, so Buchan speculated on their behavior from the worst angle. "With Li Mi's personality, he can't be completely
Those who trust Xu Maogong will only use Xu Maogong’s hands to train soldiers and horses for themselves, and then hand over the trained soldiers to the hands of the people they trust most.”
"That's not entirely true. I think someone was hurt by your beating, so he learned a lesson!" Pei Renji shook his head and did not completely agree with Li Xu's view. "Later, the Jiyin Camp, Jiyang Camp and Wagang Army
The Qijun camp stood out. The general is still the same, but the combat effectiveness of the soldiers has been greatly improved. When the general fights across the river this time, he should pay more attention to these three battalions and Li Mi's Pushan Gong camp!"
"Qi Junying?" Li Xu was very sensitive to this name and asked with a frown.
"Yes, the big thief Meng Rang was originally from Qi County, and he can be considered a fellow villager with Shu Bao and Shi Xin." Pei Renji nodded and replied, "This man's bravery is justified, and his strategy is also the best choice, so he is deeply loved by Li Mi."
In addition, Jiyinfang Xianbo and Jiyang Wangbo are both very capable. In the past two years, the Wagang Army has been attacking the city and seizing territory, relying on Xu Maogong's broken camp and the other three main forces! As for Li Mi's
Pushan Gongying is composed of elites drawn from each battalion. It claims to be able to defeat ten old generals, but it will be lost in the hands of this battalion. Be careful when you encounter it!"
"Thank you, Brother Deben, for your advice. Otherwise, I would have really underestimated my opponent!" Li Xu chewed on the three words Pu Shanggong and said half-truthfully.
A large part of the information provided by Pei Renji was already understood by Li Xu, and there was also a small part that he had never heard of before. From the perspective of understanding the enemy's situation, Pei Renji did put a lot of effort into military affairs after taking charge of Qijun's elite. This made Li Xu
He was even more reassured about his own back, thinking that even if Pei Renji was not Xu Maogong's enemy, at least he could block the Wagangpo camp from the main battlefield by joining forces with Huyalang General Wang Bian. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask: "
How is the morale of the children of Qijun? Just now I was only concerned about encouraging General Zheng and others, and for a moment I forgot to pay attention to you!"
"Don't worry, General. As long as there is enough food and grass, our Qijun elites are not called for nothing. Moreover, this is a mourning army. Since the death of General Zhang, the brothers have been thinking of finding opportunities to avenge him!"
"Then I'm relieved!" A relaxed smile appeared on Li Xu's face. He knew that his confidence in winning had increased a lot. "This powerful force under your command will stay put for now and nail the Wagangpo camp to Xingyang for me."
This way on the west side, I can concentrate all my strength to deal with Li Mi!"
"I knew your vision would not be so narrow. You only wanted to open the canal." Pei Renji hit Li Xu on the shoulder with his fist and said with a smile, "You were so bold in Liaodong back then!" "I want to end this as soon as possible."
If the war continues like this, all the good and bad guys will die." Li Xu sighed and said sadly, "After the battle of Wagang, I still have a lot of things to do in Hebei. Luo Yi, Dou Jiande, Gao Kaidao, none of these people are easy to deal with.
Yes! Besides, there are also Turks who are eyeing them. Once they go south..."
Once Liu Wuzhou colludes with the Turks to go south, Taiyuan in Hedong and Zhuojun in Hebei are the places he must take. After receiving the news of another change in Yanmen Pass a few days ago, Li Xu became wary of the north. Compared with bandits from all over the country, the actions of the Turks are more terrifying.
He is well aware of the grassland people's habit of dealing with losers, and has also seen with his own eyes the fortresses near Yanmen that were once breached by the Turks.
It was a miserable scene more unbearable than hell, and everyone who saw it was filled with rage. He released Shibi from seclusion last time, returned Ganluo to Gutuolu, and left it alone for two packs of wolves on the grassland.
Unfortunately, before the two packs of wolves could start fighting, there were countless Sui generals at the border gate vying to lure them into the house.
"As I said before, as long as there is enough food and grass, I will never let Xu Zemao go back to the army!" Pei Renji could not understand Li Xu's worries, but he had enough official experience to win the favor of his boss.
"No problem, I will take people to open the official treasury tomorrow!" Li Xu promised with a smile
The official treasury for storing grain in the Sui Dynasty was established during the conquest of Nanchen, and later gradually became a common practice. In the Taiping Era, about one-third of the rice grain collected by the government every year went into the official treasury of various places. Daye 8, 9, 10
In the past three years, due to the conquest of Goryeo and the quelling of civil strife, a small part of the stored grain has been consumed, but the official warehouses in various places are still mostly full. However, Yang Guang has always stated that he will use the grain for the fourth Eastern Expedition, so there is no
According to the imperial edict, local officials would rather watch the people starve to death than dare to take advantage of the official treasury.
Li Xu had already taken the risk of opening a warehouse when he was guarding Li Yang. The situation after that proved that as long as you come up with enough reasons, the court may not hold you accountable for tampering with the grain storage. Of course, this result may only apply to him and Yuwen Shiji, if it had been someone else.
, it’s hard to say whether he can lose his head or not. So, when he saw that the county soldiers were lacking supplies this time, he first thought of several huge official warehouses in Guancheng.
It's just that he looked at the problem simply, but the local officials were frightened to death. The next day, before Li Xu could finish what he said, Yu Shihui, the prefect of Xingyang County, immediately shook his head into a twang, "No, no, absolutely."
No, unless you get His Majesty’s imperial edict, I will never order someone to give you the key to the warehouse!"
"I have asked the brothers to wait at the entrance of the warehouse," Li Xu said with a smile, "All the generals have arrived in person. If the governor refuses to agree, wouldn't it be a disappointment to everyone!"
"I don't care whether they are disappointed or not, but it is my duty to take good care of the official warehouse!" Yu Shihui puffed his beard and glared, showing off his style.
"Your Excellency, the Sheriff is still accommodating. The worst thing you can do is record the amount of money you left in the warehouse first, and I will find a way to make up for it later! Don't worry, whatever the rules are, I will never break it!" Li Xu gently handed over his hand.
, hinting that he will definitely give you a big thank you
"That won't work. If you make a mistake in the future, who should I turn to? Besides, if you are impeached, you have a golden sword to protect you, but I only have one head. I will bear the blame for you today in vain unless you take out the sword first.
Come and chop me off, otherwise, don't even think about taking the key away from me!" Yu Shihui flicked his sleeves and left his strong back to Li Xu
"Then I have no choice but to use the golden sword given by His Majesty to split open the door of the warehouse!" Li Xu seemed to be a little angry. He turned around and walked away with his soldiers.
"I will definitely write a book to impeach you!" Yu Shihui was furious and shouted at Li Xu's back.
"Excuse me, that is your responsibility!" Li Xu went out without looking back and jumped on the horse.
The officials of the county governor's office had never seen such a captain before, and they were all so frightened into silence. In their impression, both county governor Yu and the new general Li had good tempers, so why did they fall out with each other today?
No preparation time was left for everyone? Complaints were made, but no one dared to really let Li Xu use the royal golden sword to cut down the yellow pear door of the grain depot, just in case the stone-hard wood would blow the golden sword open.
, I’m afraid no one can afford it
Therefore, those who were smart quickly took out the key to the warehouse and sent it to Li Xu at high speed. Others gathered around the governor Yu Shihui to talk and extinguish the fire, lest the boss would be hurt by anger. After tossing for half an hour, Yu Shihui finally calmed down.
He glared and yelled, "What are you doing here? Go get a few people and enter the amount of the goods out of the warehouse. Then get a few people to write a memorial in my name. I want to impeach this audacious maniac!"
"Yes, I respect your order!" All the staff agreed in a hurry, and then set out to carry out the order of the prefect. After a moment,
