Pei Ren was basically a little jealous of Li Xu becoming his immediate boss. Seeing that the other party was willing to taint himself in order to defend himself, the evil fire in his heart suddenly faded. Thinking about his recent past
He sighed, lowered his eyelids, and turned his head back to the map.
When Zheng Bo saw that Pei Renji had stopped first, he also let out a low "hum" and looked away from his opponent's face like a knife. Li Xu knew that he could not resolve the knot between Pei and Zheng with just a few words.
He also knew that Zheng Bo, the governor of Xiangcheng County, was the core of the various county soldiers, so he did not continue to dwell on this matter. He smiled and turned the conversation back to the battle situation at hand.
"Everyone just said they didn't want to fight Wagang, but they are not afraid of them. The crux is that there are traitors in power and the court is unfair, isn't it?" He still had a smile on his face, as if he was chatting with a group of old friends.
He was complaining and did not think that he was discussing with everyone a military matter involving the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people.
"The generals and others dare not criticize the government. But it is well known that all county soldiers are motherless children!" County Lieutenant Zhou Ying stood up and responded loudly.
"Since ancient times, emperors have always been hungry, but our brothers have been hungry for almost half a year!" Zhaowu Colonel Huang Qiao added loudly.
The generals talked to each other and summed up several reasons why they did not want to go to war. In the final analysis, they were all afraid of being abandoned by the court if they lost the soldiers in their hands, and they did not even have the face to explain to their elders in their hometown.
"I have no control over what the imperial court did in the past!" After everyone had finished explaining their reasons, Li Xu nodded and continued to ask: "But if I promise you, from now on the county soldiers will receive the same food, grass and pay as the government soldiers.
The weapons and equipment are given in the same way as the imperial soldiers, the battle losses are replenished in the same way as the imperial soldiers, and the meritorious service can be promoted in the same way as the imperial soldiers. Are you willing to go with me to meet the heroes of Wagang?"
"Of course I do! Who likes to huddle in the city with a bad reputation, watching the thieves come and go as if they are in no one's land!" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Ying was the first to stand up and express his position.
"The question is whether the general can be sure to get money and food for us. Back then, Dongdu promised General Zhang countless supplies, but he always used the rough roads as an excuse to delay. Until the old general died..." Zheng Bo didn't believe Li
Xu was more capable than Zhang Xutuo and responded cautiously.
He deliberately spoke in a low voice, but everyone present could hear him clearly. This time, Pei Renji did not get up to argue with him, because he had not received any money and food subsidies for his Qijun children since he took over.
His old acquaintances in Dongdu were willing to seek official positions for him, but their distrustful attitude towards the county soldiers was exactly the same as when Zhang Xutuo was in office, and it did not change at all because the leader of the army was now named Pei.
Li Xu glanced around and saw expressions of desire and disappointment on everyone's face. He knew that he was getting closer to the expected target, nodded, and gave a positive answer with a smile.
"On my way here, we have opened the passage to the southeast of Xingyang. As long as everyone works harder, we can take back the entire Tongji Canal. Let all the money and food that the counties turn over to the court flow from Caishui and Tongji Canal.
They continue to be sent over. In the imperial edict given to me by His Majesty, he recognized my authority to mobilize supplies from the counties in Henan. Therefore, after the canal is opened, we will use the money and grain owed by the counties to satisfy the brothers' supplies first, and then send them to the Eastern Capital!"
This was one of the purposes of his aggressive war in Yongqiu and near Kaifeng. On his way to Xingyang to take office, he discovered that although the war was spreading everywhere, the treasury in many places was still filled to the brim by officials.
Since the officials dare not and are unwilling to use part of it to relieve the people, they have no reason to embezzle it if it should be transported to the imperial court. Therefore, restoring the channels connecting the imperial court and local areas has become Asahi's first goal of using his troops. As long as it is firmly secured
By seizing control of the canal, he would not worry about the soldiers under his command being as short of food and clothing as the children of Qijun.
After hearing Li Xu's words, the generals were stunned for a moment, and then exploded with a bang. They didn't expect that the new coach was so bold that he even dared to withhold the supplies sent to Dongdu. But then they thought about it, eastern Henan
The connection between the counties and Luoyang has been cut off for more than a day or two. Li Xu's actions cannot be regarded as actively provoking trouble. Besides, what if it makes Dongdu dissatisfied? General Li's golden sword was given by the emperor.
Yes, no matter how arrogant the people around King Yue were, they would not dare to challenge the authority of the emperor and the late emperor.
"Yes, anyway, Dongdu said that if the roads are not smooth, we can't send money and food to us. Likewise, we can't send him money either!" Zhou Ying shouted loudly, fearing that the world would not be in chaos.
"If we hadn't opened the canal, Dongdu would still be unable to catch anything. This time, the adults can at least get some!" Huang Qiao, the captain of Zhaowu School, stroked his beard with a smile on his face, as if he had seen the money and grain being transported to Guancheng.
General.
"Your Majesty has granted the power of general, and the general will naturally arrange the food, grass and baggage of the counties in Henan!" Pei Renji's gloomy face looked much brighter. He smiled and said. "But I'm afraid there are still two things that are not quite right.
First, what should the counties do if they still refuse to hand over the money and food because of poor roads? Second, we currently control the west bank of the canal, but the Wagang Army may cut off the river from the east bank at any time, how should we respond?"
"There is only one way to force them!" Li Xu replied loudly without thinking. "If the counties are unwilling to send money and food, I will send troops to escort them. The Wagang thieves dare to block the road and rob, we are officers and soldiers, how can we
Are you really afraid of these bandits?"
"Yes, let's compete with them. We can't let thieves choke our necks all the time!"
"Fight, if you dare to snatch the food from our rice bowls, are the weapons in our hands just for viewing?!"
The generals were excited when they heard this and started shouting. They almost forgot that just a quarter of an hour ago, they had announced that their morale was low and they could not leave the city to fight against the Wagang Army.
"But before going to war, we must at least replenish each department with some supplies. Otherwise, the morale will still be low, and there may not be a chance of winning against the Wagang Army!" Pei Renji pondered for a moment and added.
"I will ask Governor Yu to open the Guancheng warehouse and allocate food from the warehouse to everyone. Based on the actual number of people under his command, we will first make up for the needs for two months!" Li Xu was already prepared for this problem. He smiled and gave
gave everyone a very satisfactory answer.
"It would have been better if you had come a few months earlier!" Pei Renji nodded, with a hint of regret in his words. There were so many officers and soldiers in Xingyang County, and no one thought that they would have the courage to use the official warehouse left from the late emperor's time to satisfy
Military supplies. As a result, the hundreds of thousands of stones of grain stored in Luokou Warehouse were cheap for the Wagang Army. If everyone had known this result, it would be better to take the risk and share it.
"Yes, the general came here a few months ago. I guess Chai Xiaohe, the magistrate of Gong County, would not have been forced into desperation and surrendered to the Wagang Army." Zheng Bo sighed and took over Pei Renji's words for the first time.
The bad news that Gong County and Luokou Cang were captured by the Wagang Army came on the third day after Li Xu entered Guancheng. According to rumors, Xu Maogong, the thief, was ready to withdraw his troops at that time, but Chai Xiaohe, the magistrate of Gong County,
Together with the supervisory censor Zheng Ting, they could not withstand the huge pressure of the reinforcements being wiped out halfway, so they surrendered the city in order to protect themselves. The Wagang army loaded all the grain in the Luokou warehouse into trucks, and with the help of the hungry and ordinary people
They were transported into Baihua Valley. In order to have food to eat, a large number of hungry people took the initiative to join the thieves, which suddenly increased the number of Wagang soldiers in Baihua Valley to more than 100,000. Together with the weapons and armor "gifted" by Liu Changgong, their reputation was greatly enhanced.
"I don't think the same thing will happen again in the future!" Li Xu stopped the two of them and said very confidently. He needed to maintain the atmosphere in front of him and couldn't let the mistakes that had already happened destroy the morale he had finally mobilized.
Go down. With only four thousand cavalry in his hands, he cannot defeat the Wagang army. In his eyes, all county soldiers can be good helpers, it depends on how the general uses them.
"The last general is willing to lead his troops to clean up the remaining bandits on both sides of the canal!" Wang Bian, the tiger-toothed general who had been listening to everyone's discussion, saw that Li Xu had won the support of everyone, so he stepped forward and volunteered. Previously, he only admired Li Xu.
Although Wang Bian was very brave, he was glad that the imperial court sent such a brave and resourceful general to take charge of the overall situation at the critical moment. If no big surprises occurred, Wang Bian could be sure that Wagang's group of rabble-rousers were definitely not
The opponent of General Lee in front of me.
"The general is willing to fight side by side with Mr. Wang!" Zheng Bo, who had given Li Xu countless problems, was also satisfied, stood up, stood solemnly and held his hands.
"I am willing to go with you, Mr. Wang!"
"I hope that only the general will obey!" Seeing that Zheng Bo had expressed his stance, the generals also expressed their willingness to accept Li Xu's mission.
"In this case, the general will return to Hulao, and all the county soldiers will come out of the seclusion to meet!" Pei Renji promised with a smile, unwilling to be left behind.
"Everyone, please be patient. We will discuss how and when to send troops later!" After winning the initial support of the generals, Li Xu immediately went to fight with the Wagang army without any hurry. He smiled and said,
said.
"What are you discussing? I'll just listen to your arrangements!" Zheng Bo said the same sentence again, but the expression on his face was almost completely different from before.
"Yes, we will do whatever you say, no ambiguity!" The generals once again stated their willingness to obey Li Xu's orders.
"Everyone trusts Li so much. Thank you very much." Li Xu smiled and handed over his hands in a very graceful manner. "But before assigning tasks, I have to ask you a few questions?"
"General, if you have anything to say, feel free to ask. As long as the brothers know it, we will never hide it!" All the generals stood upright and responded loudly. (To be continued)
