On the sixth day of August in the first year of Tianyou’s reign, the Xingmingci War entered its final stage.
Most of the gathered Tutuan peasants were let go. The autumn harvest was coming, and Henan had just breathed a sigh of relief. If this year's autumn harvest was delayed because the young men were on the battlefield, the trouble would be big.
The war has been going on for more than a month. If we count it from the south to Huaibei, the fighting time will be even longer. Many units have suffered battle losses, and no battalion has a complete establishment. It is in urgent need of additional troops.
Luoyang originally had 5,500 meritorious men drawn from the Longxiang armies. Shao Shude ordered all of them to be sent to Xing Mingci to supplement the various armies. The remaining 5,000 soldiers sent from Xuzhou and Shaanzhou Academy and Yunzhou Academy were transferred Completed with new recruits.
Each army is resting and replenishing, laying a solid foundation for the next phase of operations.
At such a moment, An Jinquan came to Ye County quietly. Shao Shude summoned him at Wanjinyi on the bank of Fu River.
An Jinquan's son also came. One of his sons was eleven years old, and the other was only four years old. Shao Shude was rewarded with some jades and other small things.
He looked at An Shenqi specifically.
Historically, after the fall of the Later Liang Dynasty, the Hedong Clan took control of Bianzhou. From then on, the Tang, Jin, Han, Zhou, Song and Five Dynasties were all Hedong Clan. Hedong elders like An Shenqi also got along like a fish in water, commanding troops many times and showing great authority. Moreover, the wealth and honor lasted until the Northern Song Dynasty. It was not until culture suppressed martial arts that martial arts families like theirs became obscure.
"The eldest son of the An family is eleven years old, right? I want to recruit him to join Yin'anzhi, but I don't know what An's wishes are?" Shao Shude asked with a smile.
An Jinquan let out a long sigh and said, "This is the dog's blessing."
Shao Shude laughed, poured a bowl of tea for An Jinquan himself, and said: "In the past, my brother and I formed a sworn alliance with Huayue Temple. It has been almost twenty years."
At this point, he sighed softly, as if reminiscing: "I, the Shao family, moved to Fengzhou during the reign of Emperor Wu, and there were not many people. After Dezong, the frontier was unrest, and the family gradually declined. In my generation, I have no eldest brother. , I have no younger brothers and no relatives. I don’t know how happy I am after I recognized my sworn brother. The Shao and Li families used to move around a lot during the New Year and festivals, but in the past two years they have become quieter, which really shouldn’t be the case.”
Princess Zhe Fang Ai is indeed a virtuous wife. She has firmly maintained her relationship with the Li family for many years. Even if her response is not very enthusiastic, she will definitely not lack the proper etiquette during various festivals. The scene is done to the extreme, and no one is afraid of it. No one can fault it.
Of course, Princess Liu of Jin also played a key role. I don’t know what she thought, but she did respond positively to Zhe Fang Ai, which also played a big role in maintaining the relationship between the two families.
An Jinquan picked up the tea bowl, took a sip, and listened silently.
When it comes to the affairs of the world, there is no family affection at all. Father, son, and brother can kill each other, let alone recognize each other as brothers. The conflict between King Xia and King Jin will be difficult to reconcile.
"I don't want to hide it either." Shao Shude said again: "I am very interested in this world and want to create a new dynasty. The towns in the north are east of Hedong and Hebei is not flat. I will definitely want to take them."
Shao Shude's heart is known to everyone. An Jinquan was not surprised at all when he said this. Hedong is now the biggest obstacle to Shao Shude's unification of the north, and there will definitely be more frequent wars in the future.
"Actually, why should my sworn brother fight with me to death?" Shao Shude said: "If I found the country, as my elder brother, it is only natural that he would seize the king's title. My nephews should be appointed if they are talented. When my nieces get married, as my brother
Uncle, offering a dowry is the right thing to do. Even you, I will treat you equally."
Having said this, Shao Shude gave a few instructions in a low voice.
After a while, General Tutu's military envoy Kang Yanxiao, Wuwei's military envoy You Yi, An Xiuxiu, and Tutu General's deputy Mi Zhicheng came to pay their respects. Obviously, they were also summoned by Shao Shude.
"Kang Yanxiao was originally a soldier in Taiyuan. He then went south to Bianzhou. He started from the head of the team and rose to the rank of Marquis of Du Yu. He is now the military envoy of General Tu."
"An Xiuxiu, I am an old acquaintance of yours. Needless to say. In the past, he was as famous as Xue Atan and was a heroic general in Hedong. He was famous for a while. Now he is the envoy of Wuwei Army."
"Mi Zhicheng, you joined me after the Battle of Lu County and started as a member of the army. During this northern expedition, you also made great achievements in battle. You have been promoted to deputy general and commanded a battalion of troops."
The three generals are all from Hedong, and now they are working under Shao Shude, which is considered a typical example.
An Jinquan was not acquainted with Kang Yanxiao, but was acquainted with An Xiuxiu. An Xiuxiu, An Renyi and others were all from the Shatuo tribe. Like Kang Yanxiao, they all violated military discipline and fled to join other forces for fear of punishment by the shogunate.
An Xiuxiu is now a general of the Xia army, and An Renyi is serving as the governor of Huainan, and both are doing well.
After An Jinquan met them, he was naturally puzzled.
Mi Zhicheng looked on coldly and said nothing. He was a man of great ability and low emotional intelligence. Although he was also from the Shatuo tribe, his relationship with other people was very average. When he attacked Fuyang, his arrows were all in vain.
He shot and killed several bandits in a row, made great achievements and was promoted to deputy general.
An Jinquan was not familiar with him, and he was not very happy when he heard that he had "made meritorious service in the Northern Expedition", so he only said a few words and ignored him.
"Under my command, there are no Xia generals, Liang generals, or Jin generals. As long as you are honest and dare to fight when you go into battle, I will give you generous rewards." Shao Shude said: "But, you are brothers.
I feel kind of familiar with the old department, and it will naturally be of great use in the future."
Upon hearing this, several people thanked him one after another.
Of course, you just need to listen to some words. The ones King Xia trusts most are his old followers, Guan Xi Yuan Cong. Everyone understands that after they demote soldiers and generals, they will not be promoted after reaching a certain level. But listen to these beautiful words.
It was still very comfortable, because it showed that at least the King of Xia would not discriminate against the Hedong generals and would not deliberately suppress them. This was enough.
"The Jin army can fight, and the generals are also capable. If you continue to fight with me like this, we will only end up in a lose-lose situation. Why bother?" Shao Shude turned his eyes back to An Jinshen and said: "An envoy Jun Ruo
If you are touched, you might as well contact your old acquaintances. As long as Jin soldiers and generals come to vote, I will never treat you badly."
Perhaps it was because he couldn't get rid of his anger for the moment, or because he didn't want to do anything detrimental to Li Keyong, An Jinquan still didn't say anything. Shao Shude didn't feel dissatisfied, and continued to drink tea with them with a smile, chatting about other topics until the sunset.
, and then let them leave.
Before leaving, An Jinquan was appointed the governor of Yanzhou by him - under the king of Jin, he was the governor of Mingzhou, but under the king of Xia, he was the governor of Yanzhou. Li and Shao were indeed sworn brothers, and their respective
The subordinates defected to each other and seemed to have a good future.
****
On the tenth day of the eighth lunar month, Shao Shude appointed Lu Huaizhong as the defense envoy to the five states of Xingming Cixiang. Wuwei, Tujiang, Jinglue, Feixiong, and Yinqian all came under his control.
Many Jin soldiers were captured in this battle. After the Tu Tuan villagers released them, there were still tens of thousands of soldiers, mostly soldiers from prefectures and counties. They also came to Ye County and formed an array in the wilderness outside the city.
Shao Shude looked at these uneasy faces and said: "Select three thousand strong men and send them to Luoyang for training, and later they will be added to various ministries as supplementary troops."
"We will pick out another four thousand old and weak people and send them to Shendu Garden to build river embankments and palaces."
"The remaining three thousand people will be sent to Sizhou and handed over to Li Tangbin to replenish the blood of Longxiang's troops."
The motley army led by Li Tangbin has captured Donghe City in Suzhou on the north bank of the Huai River, wiping out more than two thousand enemies. The news has just been reported here.
Once the city was overthrown, Yang Xingmi lost another stronghold on the north bank of the Huaishui River. At this moment, Li Tangbin had led his army eastward to besiege Linhuai. Shao Shude didn't care much about this journey. They were all miscellaneous troops who had been transferred many times.
It doesn't matter what the result is.
According to the latest data reported from the Xuzhou camp, the Longxiang Army still has a strength of over 7,000, the Longhu Army has 6,800, the Japanese Army has 6,300, the Holy Army has 6,900, and the Gongchen Army has 5,500.
.
The surrender of three thousand Jin troops was just a drop in the bucket for them. I guess the generals of the Longxiang army also found it very boring. If the sergeants fought well, they could be selected into the Forbidden Army. From then on, they would receive a salary that far exceeded theirs.
There is also a generous pension, and there is no need to die in battle, but the generals, alas, are hard to describe.
"Send an order to Wu Zangjie, don't be anxious and return to Henan." After finishing the matter of surrendering troops, Shao Shude issued another order.
After crossing the river between Pu and Yun on the right side of the Yi Congjun army, they first defeated the Bozhou soldiers and killed more than a thousand thieves, and then surrounded the city of Bozhou with lightning speed.
Well, we almost captured it on the spot. But it was so close that we still haven't been able to capture it until now - we couldn't take advantage of the enemy's chaos to break through the city at the beginning, but once they calmed down, it was basically difficult.
Luo Shaowei, the governor of Wei Bo, dispatched 4,000 yamen soldiers and more than 10,000 town soldiers to help, and defeated the Yi Cong army at the foot of Bozhou City.
Shao Shude was worried that Zang Jie Ming had gone up to the top, and had wiped out the resources of more than 10,000 people on the right side of the Rebel Army in the field battle, so he asked him to retreat across the Yellow River and try to make progress later.
From this incident, he also firmed up the idea of killing Wei Bo's yamen soldiers. The town soldiers may be able to pick and choose and accept a group of yamen soldiers, but he can't take any of the yamen soldiers. They can fight and are unruly, so go to death.
.
"Send an envoy to Zhenzhou to meet Wang Rong. I will grant him the position of county king and see what he says." Shao Shude finally said.
The person promised to Wang Rong is naturally the prince of the new dynasty, which is lower than Wang Rong's current king of Zhao, but the gold content is completely different.
Wang Rong's King Zhao, like Shao Shude's King Xia, only belongs to his generation. Therefore, strictly speaking, their eldest son cannot be called the crown prince, because the king's title cannot be hereditary.
But the princes of the new dynasty can be inherited. Although Wang Rong is not an old man from the Yuan Dynasty, and his title will be downgraded in the second generation, the food is real, and there is no shortage of wealth. It depends on how he chooses.
If he, like Luo Shaowei, is coerced by generals and warriors, or is unwilling to give up power, then there is nothing to say but fight - Shao Shude tends to think that Wang Rong will not surrender, because history has given
I don’t know the answer, but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try, just in case there are any surprises.
After saying that, he led Yin'an straight south, returned to Weizhou, and handled official business nearby.