After mobilizing 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 believe that the Wagang heroes will
Sit back and watch as the army regains 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, Wagang Army
The military found another way to use the canal. They charged protection fees for civilian and merchant ships before allowing them to pass through, and only then did they completely intercept government 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 third phase.
In the second stage, the various officers and soldiers directly faced the main force of Wagang. At this moment, the most powerful fighting force of the Wagang Army and its chief general Xu Maogong were in Baihua Valley. Only Pei Renji, Qin Shubao and others who were guarding Hulao Pass could block it.
By staying on the road back east of the camp, Xu Maogong would 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. In that case, the battle will enter the third and very critical stage. Li Xu will arrange another more perfect trap waiting halfway.
he.
In order to keep the secret, 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
Due to the connection between Li Mi and Li Mi, he resolutely ordered the most complete fighting force among the various troops, Hu Yalang, to move Wang Bian and his troops to Xingyang City, and formed an angle with Pei Renji's Hulao garrison, locking him from a distance.
Live in Baihua 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
After getting along with all the troops under his command, he needed some time to harden his heart and raise a black knife against the friend who shared life and death with him.
"Among the troops in Wagang Outer Camp, there are some very powerful ones. General, please be careful!" After the 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 had been together in Liaodong, so Xuzi still maintained the habit of addressing each other. Pei Renji did not dare to be arrogant in front of him, and quickly bowed down and returned the full salute, "General Zhe."
Let’s kill the last general! You and I are masters and slaves now, and 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 have to act like a general. At this moment, you and I are the only ones left in the tent. Isn't it too pretentious for us to talk about our status?" Li Xu laughed again.
, protesting in a low voice.
"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 show your affection as brothers. But Xu Thief Mao Gong was so powerful that I had to leave the two warriors in Hulao Pass to prevent Xu Thief
I smell some flaw!" After sitting down, Pei Renji took the initiative to explain.
"Brother Deben is right to be cautious. Xu Maogong is indeed cunning and changeable in his tactics! 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 in his heart, 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 thinking about it later, the current status of the two old friends is indeed embarrassing, so
He quickly looked away and no longer complained 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 did not 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 tiger 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 the support of His Majesty the Emperor, and his official career was relatively smooth. While the latter had a bright future when he first met Li Xu.
The empty titles of Dr. Lu and General Wu Ben were fluctuated in the officialdom, and his hair turned white after enduring it, and then he managed to make up for the real vacancy of Tongshou.
After several long sighs, the distance between the two parties immediately became much closer. "Brother Deben, you should sit upright and speak, otherwise you will feel uncomfortable 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 you were back then!" Pei Renji embarrassedly touched his head and sat down on the bench with a smile. "Actually, I'm more
If you are willing to stand, your body, which is used to riding horses, will feel as sad as a sore on your butt when you sit down!”
"Then let's stand next to the map and talk together!" Li Xu suggested, pointing to the map of the situation between ourselves and the enemy spread on the ground.
"That's fine. I remember this was the case when we were in Liaodong!"
The topic turned to marching and fighting, and Pei Renji immediately let go of all restraints. He knelt down, 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 the 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 ragtag group of people after all!" Li Xu shook his head slightly, expressing his disapproval of the Wagang army's combat effectiveness.
Make an evaluation.
"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 it is stationed in Baihua Valley, eyeing Hulao and Xingyang. The outer camp is still divided according to the hills before the thieves joined the camp. The old nest is at
Wherever it is, it is called what camp. The situation is generally 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. Seeing Li Xu's puzzled face
, he pointed to the plain next to Tongji Canal and near Yuanwu, and asked in a low voice: "I remember that Zhongjian once fought against Li Mi here, and defeated his tens of thousands of troops with more than a thousand cavalry?"
"He was too arrogant that time. It was not that easy to win originally. Li Mi took advantage of the large number of people on his side and was overconfident, but I took the chance!" Li Xu thought for a while and admitted that he had commanded this battle.
One of the classic battles, 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 with some surprise. Then he thought about the fact that the other party was only in his early twenties, and felt relieved. He paused and said: "As far as I know, since the defeat by the canal,
After you, Li Mi started to organize the army in Wagang. Soldiers and horses from all the foreign camps were indeed gathered 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. The thieves
The crowd has no choice but to break into pieces again. After this breakup, it can no longer be united!"
"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, it is impossible for him to
He completely trusts Xu Maogong. He will only use Xu Maogong’s hands to train his troops, and then hand over the trained soldiers to the hands of the people he trusts 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 in the Wagang Army, Jiyang
The general and 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 public camp!"
"Qi Junying?" Li Xu was very sensitive to this name and asked with a frown.
"Yes, the great 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.
He was highly regarded by Li Mi. In addition, Ji Yin Fang Xian Bo and Ji Yang Wang Bo Dang were both equally capable. In the past two years, the Wagang Army had been attacking cities and territories, relying on Xu Maogong's broken camp and the other three main forces!
As for Li Mi's Pushan Public Camp, it is composed of elites drawn from each battalion, and it is said that one can equal ten. Old General Zhang was killed in the hands of this battalion, so be careful when you encounter him!"
"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 had indeed put a lot of effort into military affairs after taking charge of Qi County's elite. This made
Li Xu was even more reassured about his back, thinking that even if Pei Renji was not Xu Maogong's enemy, at least he could keep the Wagangpo camp out of the main battlefield by joining forces with Huyalang General Wang Bian. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but ask
He said: "How is the morale of the children of Qijun? Just now I only cared 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. Besides, this is a mourning army. Since the death of General Zhang, the brothers have been looking for 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."
On the west side. In this way, I can concentrate all my strength to deal with Li Mi!"
"I knew your vision would not be so narrow, and you only wanted to open the canal." Pei Renji hit Li Xu on the shoulder with his fist and said with a smile. "Back in Liaodong, you were a bold man!"
"I want to end this war as soon as possible. If it continues like this, all the good and bad guys will die." Li Xu sighed and said sadly. "After Wagang was defeated, I still have a lot of things to do in Hebei. Luo Yi, Dou Jiande
, Gao Kaidao, none of these people are easy to get along with! 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 various places, the behavior of the Turks
Even more frightening. He knew very well the habits of the grassland peoples in dealing with losers, and had also seen with his own eyes the fortresses near Yanmen that had been breached by the Turks.
It was a miserable scene even more unbearable than hell, and everyone who saw it became even more angry. The last time he let Shibi out of the seclusion, he returned the Ganluo to Ashina Gutuolu, and then kept the surrender.
It was a lucky idea that two packs of wolves were fighting each other on the grassland. Unfortunately, before the two packs of wolves could start fighting, countless Sui generals were rushing to lure them into the house at the border.
"As I said before, as long as there is enough food and grass, I will never let Xu Zeimao Gong return 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 someone 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 flowed into the official treasury of various places. Daye 8 and 9
In the past three years, due to the conquest of Goryeo and the quelling of civil strife, a small part of the stored grain was consumed, but the official warehouses in various places were still mostly half full. However, Yang Guang always stated that he would use the grain for the fourth Eastern Expedition.
, so without an 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 once when he was guarding Li Yang. The situation afterwards proved that as long as you come up with enough reasons, the court may not pursue the offense of unauthorized storage of grain. Of course, this result may only apply to him and Yu Wenshi, in exchange for
It's hard to say whether he will lose his head if he loses others. So this time, when he saw that the county soldiers were short of supplies, he first thought of the several huge official warehouses in the city.
It's just that he looked at the problem simply, but the local officials were scared to death. The next day, before Li Xu could finish what he said, Yu Shihui, the prefect of Xingyang County, immediately shook his head like a wavy drum, "No, no, absolutely.
No. Unless you bring 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.
"Lord Sheriff, please be accommodating. The worst thing you can do is record the amount of money taken out of the warehouse first, and I will find a way to make up for it later! Don't worry, follow the rules, I will never break it!" Li Xu said softly.
He handed over his hand, implying that he would definitely express his gratitude.
"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 take the blame for you in vain. Unless you take it out first today
Come and chop me off with the knife, otherwise you can never take 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 piece of paper 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, 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?
, not leaving any preparation time for everyone? Complaints are complaints, but no one dared to really let Li Xu use the imperial golden sword to cut down the yellow pear door of the grain depot, just in case the stone-hard wood would give the golden sword to the
I'm afraid no one can afford it.
Therefore, those who were smart quickly took out the key to the warehouse and rushed to deliver it to Li Xu. Others gathered around the governor Yu Shihui to talk and calm down the fire, lest the boss would be hurt by the anger. After struggling for half an hour, Yu Shihui finally calmed down.
He came down, glared and shouted, "What are you doing here? Go get a few people and record the amount of the goods. Go and write a memorial in my name. I want to impeach this audacious maniac!"
"Yes, I respect your order!" All the staff agreed nervously, and then set out to carry out the order of the Grand Administrator. After a while, the memorial to impeach Li Xu was written, and the chief clerk brought it to Yu Shihui for a review. The old Grand Administrator scanned it roughly
With one glance, he ordered, "Use the seal and find a fast horse to take it to Jiangdu!"
"Yes, I obey... I obey," the Lord grinned and replied hesitantly. "Sir, the road to the south has just been opened, is it safe to say that peace is still there? Otherwise, how about we send this memorial to the eastern capital?"
"Idiot, can the officials of Dongdu control someone with the surname Li?" Yu Shihui raised his hand and hit Zhu Bo on the head with a blast, scolding him.
"But, but, it may not be peaceful on the road. We are not like Mr. Yuwen, who has many people escorting us back and forth!" Lord Bo shrank back and reminded aggrievedly.
"Idiot, of course I will wait until Li opens the canal before sending it away. You have been following me for so many years, why are you so unwilling to open the shell?" Yu Shihui asked, squinting his eyes like a well-fed fox.
