Some soldiers escorted Ma Wencai up. Guo Song glanced at him and said, "You can persuade Ma Wencui to stay as a prisoner of war, which is considered as your meritorious service. After the war, you took the Ma clan's clan members to Beiting Gaochang County."
Live in peace!"
"Thank you for your magnanimity!"
Guo Song didn't want to talk too much with the Ma family, so he waved his hand and asked the soldiers to take him down. Not long after, a captured Tang Junlang was brought up. He was Guo Jiang of the Guo family, who was also with the Ma family back then.
Guo Song competed in the martial arts arena.
His face was full of shame, he knelt down on one knee and saluted: "Thank you for saving my life!"
Guo Song's attitude towards the Guo family in Lingzhou has also calmed down. He has nothing to do with the Guo family in the first place, so why should he take the gains and losses of the Guo family so seriously? He can just treat them with a normal heart.
Guo Song smiled and said: "General Guo, please rise!"
Guo Jiang stood up, and Guo Song asked again: "Except for the captured soldiers, was Shuofang's army completely wiped out?"
Guo Jiang quickly shook his head, "Of course not. Many soldiers fled up the mountain and will probably come back in two days. About half of Shuofang was killed this time."
"Half is not a lot!"
Guo Song shook his head and said to Guo Jiang: "I will let an army follow you to recruit the soldiers hiding in the mountains!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
Guo Song immediately ordered Zhonglang General Xu Dapeng to stay with five thousand soldiers to take care of the Tang army prisoners of war and recruit escaped soldiers.
He himself led 25,000 men and quickly headed north.
At two o'clock that night, 30,000 Tang troops arrived ten miles away from Anjing County. The soldiers sat in the fields to rest. Not long after, a group of scouts came back.
The leading brigade commander knelt down on one knee and saluted, saying: "I would like to inform you, our envoy, that we have found out the enemy's situation."
"speak!"
"Dangxiang's army is all in Anjing County. There are about seven to eight thousand people, but many soldiers are injured."
Guo Song thought for a moment and said to his soldiers: "Go and invite Magistrate Zhao here!"
Not long after, the soldiers brought a middle-aged official in his forties to the military tent. The official was named Zhao Feihong, who was the magistrate of Anjing County and was invited from Lingwu County by soldiers sent by Guo Song.
Zhao Feihong bowed and saluted, "See you, envoy!"
Guo Song smiled slightly and said, "Please sit down, magistrate!"
Zhao Feihong sat down on the small Hu stool, and Guo Song asked him: "How many people are there in Anjing County now?
Zhao Feihong shook his head, "It's just an empty city. The people have all fled to Lingwu County."
"What is the structure of the house?" Guo Song asked again.
"House...."
Zhao Feihong thought for a while and said: "Across the Yellow River in Anjing County is a large forest with abundant timber resources. Most of the middle-class families in the county have wooden houses, but the people at the bottom still mainly live in thatched mud houses."
"It seems different from Lingwu County."
Zhao Feihong laughed and said, "You don't know anything. Lingwu County was conquered by the Xue Yan people, so all the stone houses were renovated. Before that, Lingwu County also had mostly wooden houses. Like Anjing County, Mingsha County
There is less wood and more stone houses.”
"I understand, thank you so much, Magistrate Zhao!"
.........
At the third watch, 20,000 Tang troops surrounded Anjing County. One hundred cyclone artillery fired burning balls into the city. The Tang soldiers fired thousands of arrows. When the gunpowder arrows were fired into the city, flames rolled.
Balls of fire oil burned everywhere in the city, and gunpowder arrows caused countless fire spots to appear in the city, and the city began to burn rapidly.
In just a quarter of an hour, the entire county was turned into a sea of flames.
The Tang army immediately changed their strategy and used cyclone cannons to project clay pots filled with kerosene onto the city wall. The city top also burned quickly and was completely engulfed in flames.
Anjing County is very small, with a circumference of about ten miles. When the county town is engulfed by fire, there is nowhere to escape.
The city was filled with thick smoke and raging flames. The soldiers were running around, shouting in fear. People were constantly being hit by collapsed houses and buried in the sea of fire. The entire city seemed to have fallen into hell. Countless soldiers instinctively
Escape to the city gate. There is only one south gate in Anjing County. This is the only way to survive, but this road is also blocked by the god of death.
Five thousand soldiers of the Tang Army blocked the city gate with military crossbows in their hands. Arrows were fired at the city gate intensively like locusts. Groups of Party soldiers trying to escape fell to the ground after being hit by arrows. Bodies soon piled up and the fire became more intense.
The fire got bigger and bigger, and the city gates also burned down. Gradually, no enemy soldiers escaped...
The fire continued to burn until noon the next day before it was finally extinguished. Anhui County was burned to ashes. More than 7,000 party soldiers were killed in the flames, including more than 2,000 people who died during the siege and 10,000 enemies who were ambushed and annihilated by the Tang army.
At this point, the entire 20,000-strong Party Xiang army was wiped out, with almost no one left alive.
Guo Song immediately divided his troops into three groups and attacked Yinzhou, Yanzhou and Xiazhou respectively to wipe out all the party members. According to the practice of clearing out the Shatuo and Geluolu people, except for women, children and the elderly, all other men were killed.
Leave no consequences.
After many years, Guo Song returned to Lingwu County again. Compared with the warm welcome received when Liang Wu led his army into the city a few days ago, Guo Song's entry into the city was much more low-key. He did not inform anyone and took more than a hundred relatives with him.
The soldiers entered Lingwu County.
The soldiers guarding the city gate were Liang Wu's men. When they saw that the general of the Tang army who came in was actually the commander in chief, they were so frightened that they all knelt down on one knee and saluted.
"See the envoy!"
Guo Song waved his hands and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, everyone, please get up!"
The captain who defended the city rushed down and saluted: "Please wait a moment, I will inform General Liang now!"
"There is no need to mobilize troops, just close the city gates properly."
"I humbly obey orders!"
Guo Song led his troops into the county town, and the county town had calmed down. The news that the Tang army in Hexi Province had wiped out all the party members in Jing'an County had already spread throughout the county town, and every household was filled with a festive atmosphere.
"Your Majesty, look over there!"
One of the soldiers pointed to a small shrine dedicated to the earth god on the side of the road and laughed in a low voice: "The name on it!"
Guo Song also saw that the sign of the Earth God on the small shrine had disappeared and was replaced by his own name, "Guo Song, King of Zhangye County". Dozens of old people were kowtowing to worship.
Guo Song felt ashamed. Is this the legendary shrine?
Guo Song quickly whispered: "Let's leave quickly!"
While these old men did not see him, he hurriedly urged his horse to speed up and left the shrine.
Not long after, Guo Song arrived at the Jiedushi Mansion. He unexpectedly found that Cui Kuan's flag on the Jiedushi Mansion had disappeared and was replaced by a white flag of "Jiedushi Guo" with a Hexi flag next to it.
The black dragon red flag of the army.
Needless to say, this must be the work of Liang Wu, a guy who flatters everyone. Guo Song shook his head and got off his horse.
"Welcome to the envoy!"
Liang Yundao came out with more than a dozen officials. He complained a little: "Why didn't the envoy inform us? We could go outside the city to greet him."
Guo Song chuckled and said, "I'm a little tired too, can't you just let me relax a little bit?"
"Your words are serious, we have no intention of doing so!"
"Just a joke!"
Guo Song smiled at everyone again and said, "Everyone, I haven't seen you for many years."
Everyone saluted and said, "Thank you so much for saving my life!"
"Shut up, everyone!"
Liang Yundao said a little annoyed: "Can you just talk about saving your life? There is no sincerity at all."
Everyone looked ashamed and did not dare to say a word. Guo Song smiled and walked into the door.
When everyone came to the lobby and sat down, Guo Song asked, "Where is Li Changshi? Why can't he see you?"
Liang Yundao sighed and said: "Li Changshi and Cui Kuan went to Qingzhou together. He is fatter and runs slowly. He may have been killed by his opponent."
Guo Song was silent for a moment and then asked: "Tell me about the inventory situation of Shuofang Military Mansion!"
Liang Yundao winked at Cang Cao's military officer Lu Xiaozhen. Lu Xiaozhen stood up and said, "I am Lu Xiaozhen, Cang Cao's military officer. I will report to the envoy."
"Lu Junjun, please tell me."
"Currently, Shuofang's army, including Fengzhou and Lingzhou officials, has a total of 1.4 million shi of grain, 200,000 guan of money, 100,000 taels of silver, 35,000 taels of gold, and 1.2 million jins of pig iron.
400,000 jins of rough copper, 20,000 sets of various armors, 300,000 spears..."
Guo Song smiled and waved his hand, "No need to say so much. I just want to know about the money, grain and pig iron situation now. I don't need to know anything else for the time being. But how can there be so much pig iron?"
"There is a large iron mine in our territory. It is at the junction of Yanzhou and Xiazhou. Both pig iron and copper are produced there. The annual output is more than 200,000 jins of iron and 70,000 jins of copper. The inventory is accumulated over many years."
"I see, what about the population?"
"Let me tell you the population!"
Liang Yundao smiled and said: "Now the entire Shuofang Jiedu Prefecture has six prefectures under its jurisdiction, with a population of 83,000 households and more than 400,000 people. This does not include Dangxiang and Qiang people. They are mainly Han people, distributed in Lingzhou, Fengzhou, etc."
Zhouzhou, Xiazhou and Yinzhou are everywhere."
"How many people are there in Toyosu?"
"There are 30,000 households in Fengzhou. Like Lingzhou, there are 150,000 or 60,000 people. These two states are the largest."
Guo Song nodded, "I plan to go to Fengzhou early the day after tomorrow."
After a pause, Guo Song continued: "From now on, I will serve as the governor of Shuofang, and Liang Yundao will serve as the chief historian. When I am not in Shuofang, he will be fully responsible for all government affairs."