The first thousand one hundred and forty-four chapters
On the official road in the north of Bozhou, a middle-aged man wearing a gauze hat was riding a horse slowly, followed by more than a dozen soldiers. This man was Wang Guinian, the governor of Yangzhou. He was ordered by Jin Wang Guo Song to temporarily go there.
Bozhou served as the director of the refugee camp, Shi, responsible for taking care of hundreds of thousands of war refugees who fled from Songzhou.
Wang Guinian was born in the Wang family in the south of the Yangtze River. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, his family was the most powerful family in the south of the Yangtze River and was known as "kings and horses share the world".
After hundreds of years, the Wang family in Jiangnan gradually declined, while the Wang family in Taiyuan flourished in the Tang Dynasty.
Wang Guinian was reused by Chen Shaoyou, the governor of Huainan. He was promoted from the county magistrate to the chief governor, and from the chief governor he was appointed the governor of Chuzhou, and then he was transferred from the governor of Chuzhou to the governor of Yangzhou with a higher official rank.
He himself was indeed very capable and managed Yangzhou in an orderly manner. Even after Zhu Si captured Yangzhou, Liu Sigu strongly recommended him to continue to serve as governor.
There was no pressure on Wang Guinian to serve as the director of the refugee camp. When he was the governor of Chuzhou, Li Xilie destroyed the Yangtze River and Huaihe River. A large number of people fled from Huaibei to Chuzhou, more than 100,000 people. He was short of food, people and tents.
But in the end, he still took good care of more than 100,000 refugees. This is his experience. Besides, there is no shortage of anything now, so he doesn't have to worry.
It's just that how could His Highness the King of Jin take a fancy to him and ask him to take on this responsibility? Wang Guinian guessed that the Political Affairs Hall recommended him, which meant that his achievements in Yangzhou were affirmed. This made Wang Guinian full of expectations. Will it be his term in Yangzhou?
After that, will he be able to serve as an official in the court?
At this time, a soldier pointed to a city in the distance and shouted: "Your Majesty, that is Qiao County!"
Wang Guinian nodded and said with a smile: "After a long journey, we are finally here!"
A group of cavalry came rushing from a distance, and in a moment they rushed to the front. The leading general cupped his fists and said, "Is this the Governor Wang who came from Yangzhou?"
Wang Guinian nodded, "I am exactly that!"
The general hurriedly said: "My humble rank is General Zhao Wei, who is here to welcome the governor on orders from General Yang Meng!"
Wang Guinian was not surprised that Yang Meng sent someone to greet him. He had already sent one of his men to report the news yesterday.
He smiled slightly and said, "Thank you, General Zhao. Is General Yang Meng here now?"
"In the refugee camp, he was already exhausted. He was looking forward to the stars and the moon, and he was looking forward to the early arrival of Governor Wang."
Wang Guinian laughed, "General Zhao is too exaggerated!"
"No! No! The humble position is not an exaggeration at all. You will know it when you go there."
Everyone arrived at the refugee camp. The refugee camp was located in the north of Qiao County, only two miles away from the county seat. The camp was stationed horizontally and stretched for more than ten miles.
At this time, Yang Meng was already waiting at the gate of the camp. He was looking forward to Wang Guinian's arrival, and his neck was really sore. Although he had a few civil servants under his command, they had no experience in dealing with refugees, and they did not have Wang You's ability.
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Basically all the burden falls on Yang Meng. There are already more than 200,000 refugees in the camp. They eat, drink and defecate every day, which puts great pressure on Yang Meng and makes him extremely busy and worried every day.
Things are piling up.
"General, they are coming!" A soldier pointed at a group of people in the distance and shouted.
Yang Meng was overjoyed and turned back to several civil servants and said sternly: "The Governor Wang is personally appointed by His Highness the King of Jin to take charge of refugee affairs. You must not be rude or negligent, otherwise military law will be engaged!"
Several civil servants were so frightened that Nono agreed.
Not long after, Wang Guinian and his entourage came closer. Yang Meng stepped forward and laughed: "Prince Wang, I finally expected you to come!"
Wang Guinian turned over and dismounted, stepped forward, cupped his hands and said with a smile: "I kept General Yang waiting for a long time!"
"It doesn't matter if you wait, I'm just afraid that Governor Wang won't come!"
"How could that happen? How dare I disobey King Jin's orders!"
Yang Meng enthusiastically took his arm and introduced several civil servants to him. This time Wang Guinian did not bring his men with him, so he asked these civil servants to assist him.
Wang Guinian greeted everyone politely. He was surrounded by everyone and came to the big tent. Yang Meng held a simple handover ceremony in the big tent and finally handed over the power of the refugee camp to Wang Guinian. He was relieved.
"Your Majesty, you can ask for money or money. I only have it, and I will satisfy you!" Yang Meng said with a hearty smile.
"It's hot now, so we don't need many things, such as food, tents and medicinal materials, but the most important thing is manpower."
Wang Guinian is very experienced. He knows that sufficient manpower is the most important, and the other is necessary supplies such as food and tents.
"There is enough food. There are now 30,000 tents for military tents. Another batch will be sent soon. It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of tents. As for manpower, I will give you 10,000 troops, sir. Is that enough?"
Wang Guinian was startled, and quickly waved his hands and said: "Instead of ten thousand troops, three thousand people will be enough. In addition, it is best to have more scholars. If there are only a few civil servants, the number will still be a little small."
"No problem, Qiao County is a state government, there are many officials, and there are schools. I found hundreds of people before, but it was of no use, so I sent them back. If you need it, I will call them all back."
Wang Guinian smiled slightly and said: "How come the scribes are useless? It's just that the method used by the general is wrong. Please send someone to call them all back. The scribes are very important."
"Okay! I'll make arrangements right away."
YangMeng clasped his fists in a salute and hurried out of the tent.
Wang Guinian smiled at several civil servants and said, "Let's go! Let's go to the camp to see and understand the situation."
Several civil servants quickly set up camp, and everyone surrounded Wang Guinian and walked outside to the camp.
In the north of Songzhou, a 60,000-strong army was marching on the official road. Next to it was the Bian River. A fleet of boats was slowly sailing in the river, loaded with grain and supplies.
The army has passed through Xiangyi County and Ningling County, and is heading towards Songcheng County, the prefecture's capital eighty miles away.
At this time, a scout cavalry rushed over and ran along the team. After a while, he came to the commander's flag. The scout clasped his fists and saluted Wang Zhongmou and said: "Inform the commander, the enemy troops were found thirty miles ahead, about ten thousand.
People around!"
Wang Zhongmou frowned, why are there only 10,000 people? Something is wrong!
"Are the ten thousand troops waiting where they are, or are they coming towards us?" Wang Zhongmou asked again.
"Replying to the Commander-in-Chief, I am waiting where I am!"
"Explore again!"
"Obey the order!" The scout saluted and galloped away on horseback.
Wang Zhongmou pondered for a moment and asked his deputy Zhou Long: "What do you think?"
Zhou Long thought for a while and said: "Commander, Qiu Jingzhong is good at winning with surprise troops. He thinks that in plain areas, he cannot use the terrain to win, or he will lure the enemy deep and ambush us halfway."
"Do you think he's using ten thousand troops as bait?"
"This is what I think. The commander-in-chief can ask General Zhang what he thinks again."
The general Zhang Zhou Long mentioned refers to Zhang Ting'an, the left general of the Huben Guards, who is currently Wang Zhongmou's deputy general. Zhang Ting'an is Xiao Wanding's subordinate and does not belong to the Bao Tao Guards. Even out of respect, he needs to be asked for his opinion.
Wang Zhongmou nodded and ordered to his soldiers: "Go and invite General Zhang Ting'an!"
The soldiers galloped away, and not long after, deputy general Zhang Ting'an was brought over. Zhang Ting'an commanded 10,000 cavalry. They walked to the middle of the team and were not with Wang Zhongmou.
"Commander, what do you want from me?" Zhang Ting'an urged him to step forward and asked.
"The scouts just came to report that 10,000 enemy troops were found in the front. We suspect this is a bait. What does the general think?"
Zhang Ting'an was very proud. The 10,000 cavalry he commanded was one of the two rare cavalry in Zhu Si's army. The other cavalry was the 8,000 palace guards.
Precisely because he was in command of the cavalry and Zhang Ting'an himself was very senior, he had always been an otherworldly existence. Even towards Xiao Wanding, he had always had a cold attitude, let alone Bao Taowei, who had nothing to do with him.
Zhang Ting'an sneered and said: "Excuse me, Marshal, does the other side have cavalry?"
Wang Zhongmou didn't understand what he meant, so he could only answer honestly: "There should be no cavalry?"
"In this case, we will use the cavalry to cut off his retreat, and the general will lead his army to swallow this bait in one go."
Wang Zhongmou pondered for a moment and said: "A cunning old man who uses hatred to honor loyalty must have thought that we would do this. I think it is better to be cautious."
"The commander is overthinking. The advantage of the cavalry lies in running at high speed. Even if they are surrounded by the opponent's infantry, the cavalry can quickly get rid of the opponent. But if we seize this opportunity, we can win the battle and greatly boost our morale."
Wang Zhongmou saw that Zhang Ting'an was determined to send troops, so he stopped insisting and nodded: "In this case, General Zhang can lead his troops from the north to go around behind the enemy troops and catch them by surprise. I will lead my troops to respond!"
"Follow the order!"
Zhang Ting'an immediately led 10,000 cavalry to the northeast and circled behind the opponent. Wang Zhongmou also immediately ordered to speed up the march.
Under the leadership of Wang Zhongmou, the 50,000-strong army began to trot towards Songcheng County.