Chapter 94 The Autumn Defense Order of the Tang Dynasty
Zhang Shougui had never dealt with Li Linfu in the central government before, but he also heard some things about the right prime minister of the Tang Dynasty.
For example, the style is strong, the style is feminine and cunning, the smile hides a knife.
But no matter what, Li Linfu's reputation is outstanding, and most people in the world think that this person can be regarded as a prime minister who does practical things.
Among all the prime ministers in the Kaiyuan era, he accomplished more or more things. It is not too much to call him a "capable minister".
But when I saw him today, Zhang Shougui felt that the rumors from the outside world were indeed a bit untrue!
What is the concept of recruiting 30,000 soldiers in Hexi? Does the Right Prime Minister have any idea? That is 30,000 people, not 30,000 pigs!
Zhang Shougui was already scolding in his heart, but he held back his anger because of Li Longji's face.
"Sage, the burden in the Hexi region far exceeds that of Gyeonggi. Liangzhou, in particular, not only bears a large amount of military service, but also a lot of labor that is not recorded in the central account books.
Recruiting 5,000 new people in Hexi is already the limit. If 30,000 people are conscripted, it will definitely affect farming and government affairs in various places!"
Zhang Shougui said sincerely.
Zhang Shougui served as a military envoy in the Jiankang Army in Ganzhou and knew the military affairs of the Hexi Corridor very well. This is one of the reasons why Brother Ji asked him to serve part-time as Minister of War.
Hexi, especially Liangzhou, has many complicated affairs that can't be explained in a few words, and everything will be fine by just talking.
"With millions of people in Liangzhou, can't they even recruit 30,000 athletes?"
When Li Longji heard what Zhang Shougui said, he felt a little baffled for a moment.
That’s Liangzhou!
The fixed population with household registration, including naturalized Hu people, has exceeded one million. If the floating population is also included, it will be more than one million!
There are hundreds of thousands of people in Guangliangzhou City.
What Brother Ji didn't know was that in Liangzhou, there was a kind of person whose household registration type was "Xingke".
They do not live permanently in Liangzhou, and they do not have land here, but they are frequent visitors to Liangzhou Changxingfang, traveling between Chang'an and Liangzhou City.
The origins of these people may be bankrupt small businessmen in the Western Regions, veterans who retired and lost their land, and good family members who came to Hexi from Guanzhong to make a living. In the end, they all became part-time workers, drove goods, and sold some small commodities.
crowd".
These people are the first to be targeted for military recruitment!
Because they had no land and did not affect local farming, they became the primary targets for military recruitment.
That's right, military recruitment is a kind of compulsory recruitment, which is compulsory. Especially in Hexi Bian Town, with a piece of paper from the government, even people like Anaye's adoptive father, Dr. Li, who has lost his legs, must join the army compulsorily.
It serves as a field hospital for treating wounded soldiers, not to mention those "travelers" who have lost their land and are alone.
However, travelers seem to be idle, but in fact they are the key people responsible for transporting goods between Guanzhong and Liangzhou!
They drive trucks, feed livestock, carry goods, and maintain the normal operation of the entire transportation line.
During the Wu Zhou Dynasty, official cargo transportation between border towns and Chang'an was undertaken by the country's post system. At that time, the soldiers and horses in the Western Regions were not like today, with more than 100,000 Tang troops stationed on the border. The demand for baggage was not as high as it is now.
So scary now.
However, since the mid-Kaiyuan period, the central finance of the Tang Dynasty has been unable to bear such huge expenses. This hole has also expanded rapidly as the competition with Tubo intensified!
Therefore, the property needed by the local area will be distributed step by step using a layered transfer method. Chang'an will not send another vehicle to undertake the freight task.
Liangzhou is the only transfer station between the Western Regions and Chang'an. Liangzhou, which has an extremely developed animal husbandry industry, sends fleets to Chang'an every day to transport goods. The fleets from the Western Regions store goods in Liangzhou.
The goods are shipped to the final destination.
Each locality is responsible for its own baggage and supply transportation.
To put it simply, the overall freight consumption has not been substantially reduced, but it has indeed transferred the transshipment costs from the central government to the local governments, making Datang's financial operations look better on its books!
In this system, the role of passengers is crucial. Because they drive for free, there are no subsidies along the way!
The only advantage is that when shipping goods, you can "include private goods" in proportion. If you don't have money to purchase goods, you can also ask the government for low-interest loans. Finally, the goods from Chang'an are sold to the Hexi Corridor to subsidize this road.
consumption.
If Liangzhou recruits troops, it is certain that the logistics system of the entire Western Region will be in chaos!
If you have not served as a local official in the Hexi Corridor about these matters, it is absolutely impossible to know so many details, and you will not understand the stakes involved.
"Sage, Liangzhou is the foundation of the Western Region, so don't touch it lightly."
Zhang Shougui begged sincerely.
Brother Ji seems to have calmed down from his rage. It's just a small Turk. Doesn't Liangzhou also have the ace Chishui Army? It won't be said that the chaos will be unmanageable in a short time.
"In addition to Liangzhou, the other four prefectures in Hexi have recruited 20,000 athletes. Open the autumn defense order and mobilize troops from Shuofang to Liangzhou!"
Li Longji said to Li Linfu in a deep voice.
Autumn prevention order!
This time, not only Zhang Shougui was not calm, but also Li Linfu was quite surprised and could not control the surprised expression on his face.
The Autumn Defense Order was tailor-made for the powerful Tubo people. It was moved out after the Tang Dynasty's border troops suffered repeated defeats to the Tubo during the Wu Zhou Dynasty. It was not an invention by Brother Ji.
It is not a simple decree, but a collective name for a series of highly targeted temporary border defense policies...
It involves complex matters such as recruiting troops, military garrisoning, uniting troops training and dispatching, and large-scale transfer of border troops from different defense areas. If it doesn't move, it will have a great impact on the people's livelihood in the border towns.
Since the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the number of times autumn prevention orders have been used is also very few.
As you can tell from the name, the Autumn Defense Order means that the Tang Dynasty must be relatively weak before it needs to "defend"! If the Tang Dynasty was strong in the border towns, how could it be necessary to use the Autumn Defense Order?
In the history of Fang Chongyong's previous life, after the Anshi Rebellion, Tubo was in an absolute offensive position against the Tang Dynasty, so much so that the Tang Dynasty frequently used autumn defense orders. Even the armies of the three towns of Heshuo participated in the autumn defense. If they could not defend themselves, they would allied with them.
The Uighurs also joined in the defense.
In the end, Longyou and Shuofang, who were once prosperous, were reduced to ashes, becoming poor and weak.
It is enough to show that the autumn prevention order has done great harm to the economy of border towns!
"Sage, the Turks are already torn apart and have many internal conflicts, so they are not in a hurry to use the Autumn Defense Order."
Li Linfu crossed his hands and saluted and suggested.
He wants to cheat people casually, but getting things done is the first priority.
Hearing this, Li Longji shook his head, waved his hands gently and said: "Let's go and do it, no need to say more. I don't know anything about military affairs. I will think about military matters clearly in the future."
Zhang Shougui and Li Linfu had no choice but to retreat, preparing to issue an edict and send troops to Hexi.
"Urgent military information! Urgent military information! Urgent military information!"
At this moment, hoarse shouting came from the distance.
A messenger rushed into the Zichen Hall in a hurry. Three flags were placed behind him, and the word "urgent" was written on each flag.
This was a characteristic of the Tang Dynasty. Emergency military situations could be reported directly to the emperor without red tape.
Gao Lishi stepped forward and handed the battle report to Li Longji. Brother Ji didn't even look at it. He stepped forward and helped the messenger up and asked, "What's the urgent military situation?"
"The ancient tribe of Baye was invaded by the Turks. Fang Youde, the governor of Youzhou, led 5,000 troops north to garrison at Qikou and recruited Qidan. Xi sent 30,000 troops to respond. It was Wei Guangcheng, the governor of Shuofang, who delivered this memorial.
Reported and impeached Youzhou Jiedu envoy Fang Youde to dispatch troops across the defense zone.
The military situation is urgent, please ask the saints to make a decision."
shocked!
Not only Li Longji, but also Li Linfu and Zhang Shougui did not expect that the so-called emergency military situation was this. They thought something happened in Hexi!
The ancient Turkic tribe was uprooted from the wilderness, adjacent to the Khitan and Shiwei, which were controlled by the Tang Dynasty. Their positions have always been wavering.
In layman's terms, her style is that of a top-notch scumbag.
When the Turks were strong, they attacked the Tang Dynasty as "Turkic tribes", becoming the first firewall of the Turkic royal court and the first to kick in the door when they invaded the Tang Dynasty.
When the Turks were weak, they would return to the Tang Dynasty, becoming an early warning rope when the Turks invaded, and drawing a clear line with the Turks.
Baye Gubu is adjacent to the Tang Dynasty, with Shiwei to the east, Khitan and Youzhou Jiedufu of the Tang Dynasty to the south.
In the fourth year of Kaiyuan, the Tang Dynasty brought this "green tea bitch" to its side, and the other party has not rebelled again to this day. But now the ancient tribe of Beye is invaded by the Turks... It coincides with the invasion of Hexi by Turks.
Is this timing too much of a coincidence?
Do the Turks think that the forces west of Hexi are too saturated, so they want to disperse their troops?
It seems that this is not how the split-into-combination attack works.
Moreover, the location of Qikou is not far to the southwest of Erenhot City in Fang Chongyong’s previous life, and not far to the north of the Hetao area. It was the defense area of Shuofang Jiedushi, and it was clearly written on the documents of the Ministry of War!
Even if Fang Youde sent troops to exterminate the ancient tribes as a normal frontier response, then he should not station troops at Qikou! This place is for raiding the Turkic tents! Not to relieve the siege!
The behavior of the Youzhou border troops is not a bit strange!
"Is Fang Youde planning to rebel? Who gave him the courage?"
Brother Ji angrily threw the love letter to the ground. As a result, his hand had not yet been retracted, but it seemed to have thought of something and was frozen in mid-air without moving.
His anger goes away just as quickly as it comes.
"Everyone, please step back."
Brother Ji waved his hand and said, lowering his head and lost in thought.
Recalling the battles in the Tang border towns since Kaiyuan, Brother Ji finally figured out where these places were and what the positions of these forces were. Wei Guangcheng's report was full of untruths.
There are so many places where I can't just listen to his one-sided words.
Brother Ji suddenly felt that the person who had the problem this time should be "the evil one complained first." Shuofang Jiedushi Wei Guangcheng, who was the watchdog but only knew how to sleep, instead of Youzhou Jie who ran a little further away with a Frisbee in his mouth.
Only by being kind can one be virtuous.
An active watchdog is much better than a dead dog that only knows how to sleep in. Fang Youde's problem is just that he did not do what Shuofang Jiedushi should do.
…
As night fell, Fang Chongyong, who was pretending to be patrolling on the Baitingbao tower, was in an extremely bad mood. The feeling now was the same as when he first arrived in Hexi and felt the cold wind blowing on the hillside all night.
Xin Yunjing had already led his troops to ambush near the granary, waiting to ambush the Turks.
Fang Chongyong is nominally the deputy military envoy, but in fact, he cannot mobilize the troops here alone, or in other words, no one will really regard him as the commander.
Now the ion time is still a little bit away, but Fang Chongyong didn't even see the shadow of the Turks!
"Did you know that there was a Hu Ji named Luzhu in Liangzhou City? She was only thirteen years old and was sold to a middle-aged woman for only fifteen pieces of cloth.
If you are captured by the Turks, I will ransom you with thirty pieces of cloth."
In order to liven up the atmosphere, Fang Chongyong forced a smile and said to Anaye.
He just wanted to hear the other party criticize him.
"It's okay. The Chishui Army is close at hand. Lang Jun doesn't have to worry."
In a rare moment of gentleness, Anaye held Fang Chongyong's hand, only to feel that the hand was frighteningly cold, and her palms were covered in cold sweat.
This guy is just pretending to be emotional!
Anaye was secretly amused.
In fact, the locals in Hexi are already accustomed to border wars. Guazhou in the five states of Hexi was once invaded by the Tubo people! That time is not that far away from now.
Going to war, being injured, returning home, working, and going to war again... these are part, or even all, of the lives of people in border towns.
Tonight, Anaye was not afraid at all. The only person who was afraid was Fang Chongyong, a yanei who came from Chang'an and had never seen anything "worldly".
"Lang Jun, it's cold and windy here, can we go back to sleep?"
Fang Laique, who was on the side, yawned and asked.
This time, Fang Dafu, who was wearing leather armor, did not scold him. Instead, he said to Fang Chongyong with a relaxed expression: "Young Master, you can go back to sleep. You should be fine tonight."
"nothing?"
Fang Chongyong was stunned. He and Xin Yunjing both thought that the Turks were going to attack at night! Fang Dafu actually said that nothing happened?
"Before the war, the atmosphere was not like this."
Fang Dafu said with emotion, as if he remembered what happened in the past.
While they were talking, they saw the shore closest to here. The fire was shining in the sky and could be seen from a long distance away!
Fang Chongyong looked at the changes in the distance with a horrified expression, with mixed feelings in his heart.
The book on the art of war is very clear, and what to do in any situation is also described clearly. But when the actual situation comes, the feeling is completely different. It's like that... at a loss and in a hurry, what should I do in the end?
None of it was done!
"It should be the Chishui Army coming to relieve the siege."
Fang Dafu sighed.
Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and didn't ask any more questions, because as soon as he opened his mouth, his poor IQ would be revealed.
The closest frontier army to Baitinghai, with terrifyingly abundant troops, is the Chishui Army. It has 33,000 registered soldiers and 13,000 registered warhorses. Even if it does not relieve the siege of the Baiting Army, it just wants to recapture the Baitinghai Horse Farm and Chishui Army.
The army will also try its best to drive the Turks to the north of Baiting Sea.
To understand these things, you don't need any skills or advanced knowledge.
It is already the fourth day since Baiting Fort was surrounded. If Wang Zhongsi wants to rescue the siege immediately, it does not seem to take so long. Then one thing can be confirmed, that is, the Chishui Army's surprise attack was not a hasty attack, but preparation.
Adequate strategic counterattack.
The "mobile defense" system of the Tang Army in Liangzhou began to show its value at this time. This system was a classic defense method that closely matched the sandbank terrain and used point control. It may seem inconspicuous, but in fact it has powerful strategic depth.
The system that can cope with the Tubo system and the declining Turks is a piece of cake.
Sure enough, while thinking, Fang Chongyong saw a raging fire burning on another shore of Baitinghai!
"The Turks are going to run away."
Fang Dafu pointed to the north calmly and said.
"How...how do you know this?"
Fang Chongyong asked doubtfully.
"You'll know it after seeing it often. There's nothing strange about it. Mr. Lang will understand these things in the future."
Hearing what Fang Dafu said, Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and sighed.
I learned a lot when I came to Hexi, but it seemed like I had not learned anything. I was always in a state of being half full after eating five loaves.
This made him feel like he was a little loser who only came up with crooked ideas.