The people of the Zeng family had such a psychological change. Compared with other wealthy families, they completely fell over to the Tang Dynasty. It was definitely not because they were willing, but because they were forced to do so.
The eldest head of the Zeng family was the doctor of the Combat Department of the Privy Council of the Tang Dynasty. Anyone who knows a little bit about the military system of the Tang Dynasty knows that the Combat Department is almost the organization responsible for the training and combat of the entire army. Zeng Ziwen almost single-handedly planned it.
Detailed plans for all recent large-scale battles of the Tang Dynasty.
After Li Xuan improved the strategic plan, it was the Operations Department, or Zeng Ziwen and a group of staff officers who improved the plan.
The position of the Operations Department was so special in the new army of the Tang Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty was not a fool. Even through some rumors on the market, the general situation of the military system of the Tang Dynasty could be judged.
Such Zeng Ziwen, in the minds of many Ming Dynasty officials, ranked even higher than Hao Bainian, Wang Shanxu and other major generals among the puppet army of the Tang Dynasty. He was a must-kill, and he still had to be at the level of killing the Nine Tribes.
Since there was no way out, the Zeng family could only grit their teeth and board the pirate ship Datang, and then row hard, trying to get the broken ship to the shore before it completely sank, and then embark on the prosperous road.
Even Zeng Ziwen's younger brother, Zeng Zisong, had to accept the reality after a psychological change of being angry, hopeless, and helpless. Now he is the battalion commander of the Third Infantry Regiment, and he still fights every day.
I'm going to class at the Royal Academy.
But most of the time, this Zeng Zisong puts on a bad face and makes everyone unhappy, especially his many colleagues in the army.
After all, in the final analysis, just like the Zeng family, many people who served as officials in the Tang Dynasty were actually unwilling to do so, but they had no other choice and could only follow one path to the end.
This fully illustrates that being an official in the Tang Dynasty is actually not a very good choice. Most scholars avoid it, let alone actively apply for it.
After several days of recruiting scholars in Liping Mansion, they still couldn't find more than a dozen people. In the end, they had to resort to some less honorable methods.
This method is very simple. Just like when Li Xuan took away many direct descendants of landlord families and forcibly assigned official titles to them, the Tang Dynasty once again used the method of forcibly distributing official titles in Liping Mansion.
Sun Yawei led the officials and soldiers from house to house to the homes of the wealthy gentry families. When he saw their direct descendants, he said: "I pity your talent. In this way, our Datang still lacks a section chief. You
come on!"
Regardless of whether they are willing or not, they are taken away by force!
If you don’t have talent, just find it yourself!
The Tang Dynasty's method of solving problems has always been rough and efficient. In this way, it didn't take long for the gentry and landlord families in Liping Prefecture and even in the countryside to have children taken into their families, and then they became the glorious Tang Dynasty.
Officials of the dynasty!
Well, it’s exactly the same as the one in Xingquan Mansion!
Of course, these people who were forcibly brought here would not be willing to do things at first, and at the same time, the Tang Dynasty did not trust these people to be responsible for too important affairs. Most of them were doing clerical work.
What, you dare to be lazy and do nothing? Believe it or not, the police will come to your house tomorrow and accuse your family of harboring a false spy!
When these people stay in the Tang Dynasty for a long time and accept their fate, they will naturally slowly become real officials of the Tang Dynasty. Well, just like the many scholars brought in by Li Xuan in a semi-forced manner, now there are
Several people have already become mid-level officials. The first magistrate of Lianhe County was a direct descendant of a wealthy family who was forcibly brought here. Now he is very happy as a county magistrate.
Not to mention that Sun Yawei and the others have used every means and method to establish effective rule in Liping Mansion. Let's talk about Hao Bainian and the others. Since they handed over many trivial matters in the city to Sun Yawei, Hao Bainian and the others are too lazy to pay attention to these trivial matters.
They have more important things to do. Since they continue to maintain the military presence in Liping Mansion and continue to wipe out the large families in the countryside who openly resist the rule of the Tang Dynasty, they also have to recruit hundreds of new recruits from the new barracks.
, allowing the two infantry regiments and all affiliated units to return to full strength.
At the same time, they had to assist the officers of the Patrol Department in setting up the anti-robbery camp in Liping Prefecture. With the existence of the semi-military security force like the anti-robbery camp, the regular army could get away from it and return to their real mission.
While doing these things, Hao Bainian and the others were also waiting for the arrival of the Fourth Infantry Regiment and the Fifth Infantry Regiment. After these two infantry regiments arrived and had a certain combat effectiveness.
According to the original plan, Hao Bainian and Li Chunjing would lead the First Infantry Regiment and the Second Infantry Regiment to continue southward to Guangxi, heading straight to Guilin, Liuzhou and other important cities in Guangxi, and continue to implement the plan to go south.
But before the Fourth Infantry Regiment arrived in Liping Prefecture, they received news from caravans and other sources. Zhu Zhihai had already assembled at least 30,000 troops in the provincial capital to march eastward. At the same time, they would meet up with Duyun Prefecture along the way.
Thousands of Ming troops from Liguzhou and other places are expected to enter Liping Prefecture in half a month.
But this is nothing. The real key is that several prefectures and counties in the northeastern part of Guizhou have already assembled at least 20,000 troops to go south under Zhu Zhihai's order. Their forwards are more than a thousand people who set off from Zhenyuan Prefecture.
They have already entered the territory of Liping Mansion, and their troops are pointing directly at the Tonggu Guards.
After this news reached Hao Bainian's ears, he couldn't help but frown!
Li Chunjing also looked unhappy: "They came early, at least a month earlier than expected!"
According to their previous expectations, it would take at least more than a month for Zhu Zhihai, the governor of Guizhou in the provincial capital, to raise food and pay and assemble troops.
Therefore, most of the Ming troops in Guizhou Province were scattered in various state capitals. If they were to assemble, a large number of official documents would be needed.
In addition, if you want these Ming armies to fight, they must prepare food and grass, and recruit young men and women at short notice. You cannot just bring the guards to fight.
In the battle sequence of the Ming army in the interior these days, there were always more than just guardsmen. If the guardsmen alone were there, the chieftains would have rebelled long ago.
Like Song Zhiwen before him, most of Zhu Zhihai and even the chief officials of his subordinate state governments have directly recruited soldiers at hand. Although the combat effectiveness is strong or weak, and the number is small or large, they are still stronger than the guardsmen.
In order to recruit soldiers to fight, this food and salary are indispensable. If we don't distribute food, grass and money before the departure, we have to let these big soldiers go to the front line to fight. Believe it or not, those recruits will mutiny in minutes.
It takes time for the Ming army to raise food and pay, it takes time to recruit temporary young men and even civilians to transport logistical equipment, and it also takes time to send and receive official documents to dispatch troops and generals.
It is impossible to say that the troops are mobilized to Liping Mansion and then come to Liping Mansion. According to Zeng Ziwen's experience, this process will take at least a month.
Then taking into account the time it takes for them to march to Liping Mansion, the Ming army that is closer may arrive in two months. The Ming army that is farther away, even the Ming army in western Guizhou, may not arrive in three months.
.
But now, just over a month after they conquered Xingquan Mansion, the Ming army's troops have already arrived at Liping Mansion and are about to arrive at Tongguwei.
This surprised Hao Bainian and the others, but also made them somewhat hesitant.
According to the original plan, they should go to Guangxi. The subsequent combat missions in Liping Prefecture will be handed over to the 4th and 5th Infantry Regiments, as well as the subsequent 3rd Infantry Regiment and even the reserve battalion being built by His Majesty. Waiting for tomorrow
After the army arrived at Liping Prefecture, these troops were almost formed and had combat effectiveness. Although they were still at a military disadvantage compared to the Ming Army, with a force of about seven to eight thousand people, it should not be a big problem to defend Liping Prefecture and Xingquan Prefecture.
of.
The First Infantry Regiment and the Second Infantry Regiment want to take advantage of this time difference to quickly capture the northern and even central areas of Guangxi, expand the Tang Dynasty's ruling area, obtain more resources, and then be able to expand their troops in Guangxi.
There are several infantry regiments. When the time comes, we will turn around and concentrate our forces to completely defeat Zhu Zhihai's troops and establish victory.
But now, if the First Infantry Regiment and the Second Infantry Regiment are gone, the Fourth Infantry Regiment still has no recruits, the Fifth Infantry Regiment, ten reserve battalions and monks are still in Xingquan Mansion, and there are not hundreds of them.
It would be too difficult for the 3rd Infantry Regiment with only three soldiers to defend Liping Prefecture and Xingquan Prefecture.
what to do?
This is the question before Hao Bainian and Li Chunjing!
This issue was beyond their ability to decide, so soon, fast horses were heading towards Xingquan Fucheng day and night, reporting the relevant news to Li Xuan.
At the same time, Hao Bainian also adopted a relatively conservative strategy. On the one hand, he continued to prepare to go south, and on the other hand, he also sent an infantry battalion north to defend Tonggu.
Anyway, the Ming army forwards who have arrived at Tongguwei now are only a thousand men, not many in number. The real threat is the 20,000 troops coming from the northeast of Guizhou and the 30,000 troops coming from the west. The combined Ming troops from these two directions are at least
There are fifty thousand.
Fortunately, only a thousand forwards came now, and it would take almost half a month for the main force of the Ming army to enter Liping Mansion.
They still have enough time!
Several envoys sent by Hao Bainian worked day and night, and soon arrived at Xingquan Fucheng. Even when they entered the city, they did not stop their horses and continued to gallop, so that their popularity had been restored, and the streets with people walking around were in chaos.
, many people want to yell, who the hell is galloping on the street, see if I don’t beat you to death.
But when he saw the knights riding on the horses wearing the military uniforms of the Tang Army, with a small flag on their backs, and after the word "report" mentioned above, they obediently shut their mouths.
These are messengers from the military. In order to rush for time and avoid delaying the military situation, they changed horses without changing people. They would not stop even in the downtown area. Being hit by their horses would not only kill them in vain.
, and will also be charged with obstructing military reporting.
The envoys rushed all the way to the yamen of the Privy Council, and then handed the sealed letter written by Hao Bainian himself to Zeng Ziwen.
Zeng Ziwen opened it and took a look. Without any hesitation, he immediately ordered his entourage: "Prepare the sedan and enter the palace!"
In less than half an hour, the core high-level civil and military officials of the Tang Dynasty already knew that 50,000 Ming troops were about to attack!