In the evening of that day, Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Hou Zhao Tan jointly came to Zhao Hongrun's Prince Su's Mansion to visit. Zhao Hongrun invited the two princes to his study and ordered the chef in the mansion to bring some home-cooked wine and food.
In fact, Zhao Hongrun had somewhat guessed the purpose of these two princes' coming.
It is nothing more than that the imperial court has officially issued a decree designating Song Yun, the leader of the Song Dynasty rebels, as a rebel. Therefore, the nobles in the country, such as Zhao Shen, Prince of Chengling, Zhao Tan, Marquis of Anping, hurried to Song County to fight for their interests. In fact, this is okay.
This is regarded as a disguised form of compensation from the imperial court to the domestic nobles. After all, in the recent war, many domestic nobles contributed money and food, and indeed suffered huge losses.
"When do you plan to leave?"
After the food and wine were served, Zhao Hongrun personally poured a glass of wine for the two princes and asked.
Chengling King Zhao Shen thanked Zhao Hongrun and replied: "Tomorrow we will set off for Yuanyang first, and then we will set off for Song Dynasty."
The reason why we need to go to Yuanyang first is because the private army of King Chengling and others are still stationed in Yuanyang and Suanzao area.
"How many troops do you have?" Zhao Hongrun asked again.
Regarding Zhao Hongrun, Chengling King Zhao Shen certainly would not hide anything, and said truthfully: "I have more than 5,000 people under my command, and Mr. Zhao Tan has more than 3,000 people under him. Plus several other princes in our line, we can probably make up 20,000 people."
There are about 30,000 people left. If we recruit more people along the way, we will estimate it to be about 30,000 people."
"Thirty thousand people is quite a lot..."
Zhao Hongrun nodded.
However, both sides knew that there were many people, but the combat effectiveness of this army was not necessarily very reliable. After all, most of them were temporarily recruited by Chengling King Zhao Shen and others during the last war.
Although Yong and Rangers have undergone a short period of training, they are naturally incomparable to Wei's regular army.
The generals who led the troops were also nepotistic, and almost all of them were related to the nobles of the Su-royal Party.
It is no exaggeration to say that randomly selecting three thousand-man troops from the Shang Shui Army would probably be enough to defeat this 30,000-man army.
"The coach is Mr. Zhao Shen?" Zhao Hongrun asked curiously.
Chengling King Zhao Shen smiled awkwardly and said: "Master Zhao Tan and I serve as the commander-in-chief and deputy-general respectively, which makes His Highness laugh."
Zhao Hongrun smiled slightly and said a few words of encouragement.
In fact, in his opinion, Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Hou Zhao Tan still knew some art of war. After all, familiarity with the art of war was a compulsory course for the children of the Ji Zhao family. However, these two princes had rarely led troops in battle in person.
, so their military knowledge is basically just talk on paper.
But the problem is not big, because to a large extent, the enemies of the private soldiers of the domestic nobles will most likely be the private soldiers of the local wealthy families in Song County. If they really encounter Song Yun's Beibo Army or Huan Hu's Suiyang Army, I believe that
The nobles in the country will not foolishly go up to fight with each other.
In the final analysis, the court's thinking is like this: Although I don't have the money and food to mobilize regular troops for the expedition, I will not let you Song Yun and Huan Hu idle. I will send people to harass you first, and wait until the energy of the Beibo Army and Suiyang Army is exhausted.
The private soldiers of the nobles are almost worn out. After the autumn harvest, I will send out an elite force to defeat both of your rebel armies in one go.
Therefore, in general, this time the imperial court acquiesced to the domestic nobles leading private soldiers to Song County to seize profits. In fact, it was considered mutual use. However, the domestic nobles were very happy to be used by the imperial court this time.
"Your Highness, I have something that I wonder if you can help me with..."
After looking at each other with Anping Hou Zhao Tan, Chengling King Zhao Tan asked hesitantly.
"You are not asking me to send troops to help, are you?" Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly and said in embarrassment: "First of all, the army under my command is still being reorganized, and the court and some people may not allow me to send troops to help.
you……"
Indeed, according to the unwritten tacit understanding, since the imperial court tacitly allowed the private soldiers of the nobles to go to Song County, the regular army could not be dispatched for the time being.
Otherwise, as long as Zhao Hongrun sends his Shang Shui Army, Yanling Army, and Youma Army to Song County, wouldn't the entire Song County belong to the nobles of the Suwang Party? With this kind of behavior, the nobles of the imperial court and other forces, then
It will never be accepted.
Therefore, the regular army under Zhao Hongrun did not move, nor did the regular army under the command of Nanliang King Zhao Yuanzuo and Jiang Bi. Any regular army in Wei State will not participate for the time being, leaving the nobles in the country to do their own thing. This is the distribution of interests.
The rules of the game.
Zhao Shen, Prince of Chengling, was obviously a person who abided by the "rules". Hearing this, he waved his hands quickly and said, "How dare you ask for the elite soldiers under your highness? We just... just hope to purchase some weapons from the Smelting Bureau."
The weapons he refers to refer to war weapons, namely repeating crossbows, machine crossbow boxes, sniper crossbows, etc.
"Well..." Zhao Hongrun frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "The imperial court does not allow the sale of the "weapons" of the Smelting Bureau to "non-organized" private armies, so I cannot agree."
After hearing this, Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. But at this moment, they heard Zhao Hongrun chuckle and say: "Although the court regulations do not allow for sale, there is no rule that "renting" is not allowed. If the two
You are willing to rent a weapon for the price of purchasing the weapon...don't blame me for being cruel."
After hearing this, the eyes of Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan lit up and they quickly agreed.
They understand that this is the special care given to them by His Highness Prince Su. Otherwise, how many times the price would you let the nobles of the Qing Dynasty pay to rent it?
Although the rental price is quite expensive, Prince Su Zhao Hongrun also has to give an explanation to the court, right?
"Then rent fifty repeating crossbows, one hundred machine-operated crossbow boxes, and twenty catapults..."
Zhao Hongrun was slightly stunned by Chengling King Zhao Shen's heroic words.
He couldn't help but asked in confusion: "Are you going to fight Suiyang?"
But after thinking about it, he suddenly realized that after all, Suiyang County, which had been stolen by Huan Hu, was Nangong Yao's hometown. The inventory in the city was naturally not comparable to other counties.
Seeing that Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Hou Zhao Tan did not deny it, Zhao Hongrun frowned and reminded: "Don't underestimate Huan Hu. Huan Hu is a Korean cavalry general. Back then, I laid out layers of sieges but never caught him.
Only a few hundred people were attacked by him in Shangshui County... This person's strategy and courage are all the best, so be careful."
Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Hou Zhao Tan were surprised when they heard this, but they also secretly fell in love with Huan Hu. After all, how could a person who received such evaluation from His Highness Prince Su be a kind person?
Finally, Zhao Hongrun told Chengling King Zhao Shen not to let these war weapons fall into the hands of outsiders. If the war situation is urgent and cannot be transferred, they will be destroyed immediately.
In response, Chengling King Zhao Shen and his two men nodded in agreement. After all, they also understood the pros and cons.
"Oh, by the way, I am going to Song County this time. I hope you two can restrain the soldiers under your command as much as possible."
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Hongrun warned again.
The reason why he gave this warning was because he knew in his heart that the troops under Chengling King Zhao Shen, Anping Marquis Zhao Tan and others might be loyal and righteous people in the war to protect their homeland, but they could not be trusted in foreign wars.
It is a "tiger and wolf army". If it is not restrained, it is very likely that the people of Song County will suffer disaster.
Elite soldiers often disdain to attack civilians, but it is the mob who do things that bully the weak and fear the strong.
Zhao Hongrun was very worried that after the 30,000 troops of Chengling King Zhao Shen and others set foot in Song County, they would cause trouble to the people of Song County like the Chu army did back then, so he felt it was necessary to warn them in advance.
After hearing this, Prince Chengling and Zhao Shen were not angry and asked: "Your Highness, what do you want?"
In fact, one of the things they came to visit Prince Su Zhao Hongrun today was to find out the "bottom line" given to them by His Highness. After all, they are now strutting around in the name of "Prince Su", so naturally they have to consider this person.
His Highness's attitude.
After hearing this, Zhao Hongrun thought for a while and said: "The Song people who are close to me in the Wei Dynasty should not move. The rest of the local wealthy families should not give the other party a way to survive and leave ten percent of their wealth to the other party. As for the common people... it is best
Don't disturb me."
"As your Highness wishes." Chengling Prince Zhao Shen and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan looked at each other and nodded.
According to this measure, they can make a lot of money from this expedition to Song County. In comparison, the savings of the common people of Song Dynasty are nothing at all.
Seeing that Prince Zhao Shen of Chengling and Marquis of Anping Zhao Tan accepted his suggestion, Zhao Hongrun was in a good mood.
Due to his position, he could not say anything about the imperial court's conquest of Song County. The only thing he could do was to restrain his own soldiers and generals as much as possible to prevent Song County from suffering too many casualties.
Afterwards, the three of them chatted for a few more words. During this period, Zhao Hongrun inevitably asked Qing Wang Hongxin: "Is Zhao Wu also taking action?"
Zhao Shen, King of Chengling, chuckled when he heard this and said: "As expected, on King Qing's side, "Wei Feng" of the Wei family should be leading the army. As for the troops under his command, they are not much more than me..."
After successfully leasing considerable war weapons, Chengling King Zhao Shen no longer cared about the slight difference in numbers.
In the next few days, the nobles of the Yongwang Party, the Qingwang Party, the Xiangwang Party, and the Suwang Party left Daliang one after another. Each faction gathered its own troops and headed for Song County, like a piece of scattered sand.
This is no wonder, after all, it is extremely difficult to get the nobles of these factions to cooperate with each other.
During this period, King Qing Hongxin learned that Zhao Hongrun had privately leased a batch of war weapons to King Chengling Zhao Shen and others. He was shocked and angry. He accused Zhao Hongrun of favoritism at the court meeting and actually broke the rules in private. It was really despicable, and Zhao Hongrun must be given.
An explanation.
It's a pity that Zhao Hongrun was busy at home, preparing for the wedding, and didn't bother to pay attention.
Anyway, he didn't send troops directly, so it doesn't really break the rules.
So the matter finally came to nothing.
From the end of May to the beginning of June in the 23rd year of Hongde, the nobles of the Wei State gathered more than 100,000 private troops and set foot in Song County to attack Song Yun, the leader of the Song rebels, and Huan Huan, the leader of the Suiyang County, on behalf of the court.
Tiger, a war seems about to break out.
But for the Wei court, this can only be regarded as a small fight. After all, the real elite troops of Wei, such as the Shangshui Army, the Yanling Army, the Wei Wu Army, the Suppression Army, the Dredging Army, etc., all stood still. Waiting for the results of these noble private soldiers.
In early June, the State of Chu finally sent envoys to Daliang, hoping to offer war compensation and end the "enmity between Wei and Chu".
After learning about this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but think of Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo.
If his prediction was correct, Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, might have stolen great power from the nobles of Eastern Chu at this time.