After talking with He Tanchong, General An Shouzhong called the generals of the Yan army together and convened a military council.
At the meeting, An Shouzhong first talked about the Yan army's current offensive, and then how to march southward.
After saying this, An Shouzhong saw that the generals were absent-minded, so he frowned and asked, "Do you have anything to say?"
There is a general on the left front of the Yan army, named Xie Guiwen, who is the nephew of An Shou's aunt's family. Although this man has no ability, he is good at having a quick mind and has relatives, so he is quite prestigious in the army.
.
Xie Guiwen came out and said to An Shouzhong: "General, we were sent by the imperial court to conquer the south of the Yangtze River. Before leaving, the army was in arrears with pay for more than three months. In addition, food, grass, supplies, etc. were all insufficient.
I went to the court again and again to ask for it, but all I got was that the treasury was empty and could not be replenished for the time being."
"Today, after listening to the words of the slave merchant surnamed He, the general realized that the imperial court had reached a contract with the Kang family. Thirty thousand prisoners were exchanged for 570,000 taels of goods, of which 28% were deposited.
Wan Guan..."
An Shouzhong looked at Xie Guiwen and said in a deep voice, "What do you want to say?"
Xie Guiwen bowed and said: "What the general wants to say is that the battle was fought by us and the blood was shed by the brothers. However, the imperial court took half of this windfall from the slave trade, completely ignoring the salary arrears in the army and the
The materials before departure were insufficient. It would be a bit disappointing to act like this."
Hearing this, the generals in the tent agreed one after another.
Someone said: "The sale of 30,000 slaves was all due to our hard work on the battlefield. The court did not care about military pay, but took away half of the slave money without saying a word. What kind of logic is this?"
Someone said again: "I think this matter is probably caused by the civil servants in the imperial court. They enriched their own pockets and let us generals fight with our heads in the air!"
When An Shouzhong heard this, he thought of the faces of the civil servants in the court and felt depressed. However, out of face, he still shouted: "There is a reason for doing this in the court. We are fighting hard to win. Don't talk about it anymore."
Complain!”
When the generals saw that their master was angry, they reluctantly stopped talking.
Seeing this, Xie Guiwen lowered his voice and said: "General, when I mentioned the sale of these 30,000 slaves, it was not to complain about the imperial court, but..."
An Shouzhong frowned and said, "If you have anything to say, just say it!"
Xie Guiwen: "I would like to ask, for all of you who are here leading troops to fight, the first reason is to serve the Holy One, but secondly, what is your purpose?"
An Shouzhong asked in confusion: "What is the second one?"
Xie Guiwen: "This second step is naturally to ensure a stable life for the brothers under my command who are going through life and death. Please think about it, the soldiers in the army who are fighting with us are not just for getting some money and living a stable life.
Are you going to have a good day?"
Xie Guiwen's words actually have another meaning.
Where did the money for the soldiers come from? Naturally, it came from the generals who led the troops.
Only when the generals have made enough money outside can they distribute money to their subordinates.
The generals in the tent are naturally well aware of this truth.
Xie Guiwen added: "But now, Luoyang's treasury is empty, and military pay is often insufficient. We, the leaders of the army, have a shameless face in front of our subordinates. In this expedition to the south of the Yangtze River, the land occupied belongs to the imperial court, and the wealth gained
The goods also belong to the imperial court, and the military magistrates are watching over them, so it is really difficult to distribute them to the soldiers. Only the rewards from the slave trade, no matter how much, are our own... The general has a suggestion, we might as well
After getting along with the Kang family, we will have a plan for doing things in the future..."
Xie Guiwen said it to this extent, and An Shouzhong finally understood it.
He touched his chin and asked Xie Guiwen: "You want me to bypass the court and directly do slave tooth business with the Kang family? Do you know that no matter how big or small the battle is, military reports are sent to Luoyang, and the prisoners are
How can we hide everything if it’s all on paper?”
Xie Guiwen said with a smile: "General, at first the Kang family and the imperial court only made a transaction of 30,000 slave bonds. As for how to deal with the extra prisoners after collecting the 30,000 slave bonds, the imperial court did not give us any clear instructions.
Besides, when counting prisoners in the army, they usually only count the surrendered soldiers of the enemy. As for the captured enemy civilians, who would care?"
When An Shouzhong heard this, his eyes lit up.
Yes, after a battle is won, most of the military reports to the court only mention the number of surrendered soldiers, and generally do not mention the number of captured people.
In this way, selling the captured people to slave traders is not considered cheating the emperor. If you look at it this way, it is really a war and a slave trade.
Thinking of this, An Shouzhong couldn't help but nodded.
Seeing An Shouzhong nodding in agreement, Xie Guiwen said again: "General, there is one more thing."
An Shouzhong: "Is there anything else?"
Xie Guiwen: "We captured 8,000 people this time and earned 70,000 guan from the slave trade. The general has to make up his mind on how to reward people according to their merits."
Hearing this, the Yan army generals in the tent immediately became noisy.
Someone hurriedly shouted to An Shouzhong: "General, the right wing army captured Suiyang City. In that battle, our army killed more than a hundred brothers and captured more than 3,600 people. Due to emotion and reason,
The army in the right wing should get the lion's share of the 70,000 guan of slave trading money..."
Before this person could finish his words, another person stood up and said: "The battle in Suiyang was almost over before the army on the right side captured the city gate. In terms of the first victory, he should be the first to break the city.
The left front army is the right one!"
"Nonsense! The first one to attack the city was the forward battalion led by the last general!"
Hearing that the generals under his command were quarreling over the money from the slave trade, An Shouzhong felt dizzy.
He slammed the table hard and shouted: "Shut up!"
Seeing that the tent became quiet, An Shouzhong said: "Any prisoner obtained from fighting with the Tang army will be divided into slave traders' money according to their merits!"
Xie Guiwen rolled his eyes: "General, what if the slaves are not obtained from the confrontation between the two armies, but are obtained from daily raids and suppressions?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! An Shouzhong: "If it is a slave that was captured, then whoever captured it belongs to him!"
When the generals in the tent heard this, they all said "Hey."
In the next few days, Songzhou and surrounding counties all suffered disaster.
Every army under An Shouzhong took turns to go into battle and dispatched everywhere by taking advantage of every opportunity such as patrolling and reconnaissance.
Tuocheng, Xiangyi, Yucheng, Fengxian, Peixian and other cities of the Southern Tang Army were attacked one after another, and urgent battle reports were sent to Jiankang City almost at the same time.
On the official roads around these counties, the Yan army's cavalry was divided into dozens of groups, hiding in ambush.
Regardless of whether they were soldiers of the Tang army or ordinary people, as long as anyone dared to appear on the official road, they were all intercepted and kidnapped by the Yan army.
There are rumors that the Yan army captured people everywhere because the army was short of food, so they used human flesh as food.
Suddenly, the northern front of the Southern Tang Army was in turmoil, and everyone was in danger.
Commercial banks did not dare to send people to do business, and people did not dare to go out of the city to work.
On the other hand, after quelling Liu Zhan's rebellion, General Zhang Xun of the Tang Army led an army of 20,000 to Xuzhou at the end of April in the third year of Tianyou.
After listening to the battle reports from various prefectures and counties, Zhang Xun frowned and said nothing in front of the generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the meeting hall.
Nan Jiyun, the general of the Southern Tang Dynasty, saluted Zhang Xun and said: "Captain, the bandit army has occupied Songzhou, Chenzhou and Yunzhou. The vanguard has now reached Xiao County and is only a few days away from Xuzhou City."
Governor Zhang said: "The general of the bandit army is An Shouzhong. He knows soldiers and is good at fighting. He is as famous as Shi Siming. You must not underestimate the enemy."
Nan Jiyun sighed: "If most of our army had not been transferred to the south to suppress the rebellion and there was really no time to rush back, then how could An Shouzhong have broken through the river barrier and occupied Songzhou and other places."
Zhang Xun shook his head and said: "There is no need to mention what has happened. Just focus on the enemy in front of you."
Nan Jiyun responded.
Zhang Xun: "I have read the battle reports from various prefectures and counties. The bandit army split the cavalry army into dozens of groups, each with no more than 500 people at most. They harassed and robbed the people everywhere. What is the intention behind this?"
After Nan Jiyun thought about it, he replied: "The general thought that the governor had previously stationed in Suiyang and resisted a hundred thousand bandit troops with thousands of troops. The bandit general An Shouzhong knew that he would definitely not be your opponent in attacking and defending the city, so he thought
We are mobilizing cavalry troops everywhere to attract people's attention, in order to attract our troops away from Xuzhou City to avoid another Battle of Suiyang."
Zhang Xun nodded and said: "That makes sense, I agree with you. The bandits are plundering everywhere, and they must be trying to lure us out of Xuzhou and then defeat our army in the field."
Speaking of this, Zhang Xun said to the generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty in the hall: "Xuzhou is a central location. To the east, you can get Langya along the Yishui River; to the north, you can go to Juyeze from the Si River; to the west, you can get directly to the Bian River along the Bian River.
Destroy the Central Plains. If Xuzhou falls, it means that the gateway to the south of the Yangtze River will be wide open, and the bandit army can use the water network to gather a large army to storm the Huaihe River defense line. Therefore, Xuzhou must not be lost!"
Seeing the generals bowing and saying hello, Zhang Xun shouted loudly: "Send the order, the troops will defend Xuzhou to the death. No matter what the enemy does, they must not leave the city to fight!"