In the morning, Guo Song arrived at Fenshui Wharf surrounded by dozens of officials and generals. The Fenshui Wharf to the west of Taiyuan City was filled with collected cargo ships. Grain bags, straw poles and various materials were piled up on the wharf.
, without sufficient logistical support, the Southern Expedition would be out of the question.
"Your Majesty, aren't these hundreds of ships carrying supplies a little too little?" Commander Ma Weijiang asked a little worried.
Of course, the supplies of more than 500 ships alone could not meet the logistical needs of tens of thousands of troops. Before recruiting ships, Guo Song had already ordered the dispatch of 10,000 camels to Taiyuan to serve as the logistics team.
Ten thousand camels loaded with food have entered Lanzhou and are on their way to Taiyuan City. Guo Song is also patiently waiting for the arrival of the camels.
"Our camel team will also arrive soon, but whether it is a ship or a camel team, these are just supplements. The key is that we must seize a bridgehead and obtain a logistics supply base."
Speaking of this, Guo Song asked Chief Shi Xue Fan: "Can the Huoyi County Pier dock a thousand-stone ship?"
"It should be possible, but it will require a lot of manpower to carry food and supplies up the canyon."
"I will arrange this. I just want to know if Huoyi County can dock a large number of ships."
At this time, Xue Fan said cautiously: "Your Majesty, Li Huaiguang has just ended the war with Zhu Si. The soldiers are tired and the country is weak. So we went south to attack. Isn't it a bit suspicious of taking advantage of others' danger?"
Guo Song chuckled and said: "Does Changshi Xue think history books will write like this?"
Xue Fan didn't know how to answer for a moment, and Guo Song said calmly: "I think it should be written like this: There was a big epidemic in Hedong. Li Huaiguang, the governor of Luze, regarded the people as useless. The people were displaced and wandered in the ravines. Guo, the governor of Hedong,
The Song Dynasty held high the banner of anti-epidemic, saved the people from floods and fires, distributed grain and rice, sent decoctions and medicines, sent out troops, exterminated bandits, and protected the people. After three months, the epidemic in Hedong was stopped."
After Guo Song finished speaking, everyone laughed and praised: "Your Majesty is so right. We are not going to fight, but to fight the epidemic. Li Huaiguang is incompetent and obstructs us from helping the people."
Guo Song visited the ship and then led the generals to the military camp. On the way, the commander Li Bing was a little worried and said: "There are too many officials on the dock. The envoy told the military secrets in public. What if it reaches Li Huaiguang's ears?"
Guo Song smiled lightly, "How do you know I didn't mean it?"
Li Bing was stunned, "Could it be that you don't intend to go to Huoyi County?"
"The key is not whether I want to go to Huoyi County, but whether Li Huaiguang believes in it. The strategy of military strategy lies in deception. I know very well what kind of person Li Huaiguang is. Now that I am recruiting ships, how can his spies in Taiyuan not know?
Let’s see how the two sides compete!”
"Li Huaiguang has spies in Taiyuan?"
Guo Song laughed, "Even Tian Yue, who has little relationship with Taiyuan, has spies in Taiyuan. Do you think Li Huaiguang, the Yuan family's archrival, will be there?"
.........
Li Huaiguang's spy in Taiyuan was a restaurant called Baifu Restaurant, which could only be regarded as a very inconspicuous mid-range restaurant in Taiyuan. It was such inconspicuousness that it was difficult to imagine that it was Li Huaiguang's intelligence point in Taiyuan.
Of course, Li Huaiguang served as a stay-at-home officer in Taiyuan for several years. When he left, he deliberately left some civilian and military officers loyal to him in Taiyuan. The generals were basically purged, but the civil servants were still there. They crawled carefully in the dark and kept collecting
The information was continuously provided to Baifu Restaurant, and it also received financial support.
In the past, civil servants collected information about the Yuan family, but now they collect information about the Hexi army.
At noon, business is booming in Baifu Restaurant. The fish cooked in this restaurant is very good and unique, and has won the favor of many fish-loving diners.
Jiang Houze, the governor of Taiyuan, was a loyal diner of this restaurant and often came to dine at the restaurant. However, if you look at Jiang Houze’s resume, you will find that he served as Cao Canjun, a left-behind soldier in Taiyuan. He was a subordinate of Li Huaiguang, so it is not surprising that he
, he was one of Li Huaiguang's undercover agents who stayed in Taiyuan. He once served as a member of the Household Department of the Northern Tang Dynasty, and sent Li Huaiguang a lot of important information about the Northern Tang Dynasty.
"Hey! Jiang Canjun came to visit the shop again?"
The bartender smiled and said: "There happens to be a seat upstairs, please?"
"Is Shopkeeper Han here?"
"Here! Here!"
Jiang Houze nodded, "I'm treating you today. Do you have a private room?"
This is a specialized term. If he asked for a private room, it meant that he had important information. The bartender immediately understood and quickly said that a private room was available.
He led Jiang Houze up to the second floor. On the left side of the second floor was the lobby, and on the right was a row of three private rooms. Jiang Houze entered the innermost one.
Not long after, the restaurant manager Han rushed over. He entered the room and pointed to the next door, meaning there was someone next door.
"I don't know if some of my friends want to come. If they don't come, I will go out to eat. I would be embarrassed to occupy a private room for nothing."
"It doesn't matter. You are a regular customer. If no one orders a private room, you can just dine here."
The two of them had a very ordinary conversation. Jiang Houze had already handed a folded note to shopkeeper Han. The shopkeeper put away the note and said with a smile: "Let's follow the old rules first, three dishes, one pot of wine, two pounds each."
How about the braised carp?”
"Okay, please hurry up. I have something else to do in the afternoon."
"Okay! I'll be here soon."
Shopkeeper Han left in a hurry. Not long after, the bartender came in to serve wine and food. The information had been given to Jiang Houze and he started to eat with gusto.
Shopkeeper Han came to the shopkeeper's room in the backyard and took out the note given by Jiang Houze. He took out a special thin pen and copied the content of the information onto a slender note. He then rolled it into a thin tube and put it into a small
In the reed tube, this is a special mailbox for pigeon letters.
Shopkeeper Han handed the mailbox to a clerk, who immediately mounted his donkey and headed out of the city.
Their pigeon cage was arranged in the suburbs. It was easy for people to spot a carrier pigeon taking off in the city. Of course, in the afternoon, a carrier pigeon fluttered its wings and flew to the far south.
Li Huaiguang's hometown is in Shangdang County, Luzhou. His vassal position is Luze Jiedushi, and he controls ten states south of Taiyuan. The ten states are generally wealthy, have fertile land, and have a large population, and the princes from all walks of life are very jealous.
However, the nearly half-year siege and the subsequent epidemic weakened Li Huaiguang's army, and a large amount of grain and grass supplies were stored in the epidemic-ravaged Hedong City and could not be transported out.
At this time, bad news came from Taiyuan Prefecture. Guo Song led the army to Taiyuan Prefecture and was likely to launch an offensive in the southeast of Henan Province.
Li Huaiguang and Guo Song had deep grievances. When he was the military envoy of Shuofang, Guo Song was the economic envoy of Fengzhou. In a battle against Xue Yantuo, Guo Song won a great victory, but he lost his troops and generals in the end. He has not yet taken the position of military envoy of Shuofang.
Re, he was dismissed by the court, and the two became enemies from then on.
Last year, Guo Song launched a sneak attack on Taiyuan and annihilated the Yuan family, which also shattered Li Huaiguang's dream of unifying Hedong.
But if he just attacked and destroyed the Yuan family, Li Huaiguang would not be angry. At most, he would take away what he wanted first. However, Guo Song took advantage of the fact that he and Zhu Si were exhausted from fighting to launch an attack in the southeast of Henan Province.
The war really made him extremely angry. Taking advantage of others' danger was simply despicable and shameless.
That evening, Li Huaiguang received the pigeon letter sent from Taiyuan and immediately ordered: "Go and invite Mr. Han."
Not long after, his confidant Han Yu hurried over. Han Yu had followed Li Huaiguang for more than ten years and was loyal to Li Huaiguang.
"Your Majesty, what happened?"
"Look at this!"
Li Huaiguang handed the pigeon letter to Han Yu, "What I received this afternoon is the intelligence obtained by Hucao's military officer Jiang Houze."
Han Yu read the pigeon letter. The content of the pigeon letter was that the Hexi Army wanted to use Huoyi County as a logistical center for the southern attack. From a geographical point of view, Huoyi County did have this condition, but Han Yu frowned and was puzzled.
He asked: "Jiang Houze is just a household officer who joins the army. How could he know such confidential information? Besides, the Hexi Army has not sent out troops yet, so it shouldn't be so quick to decide where to be the important logistics area! If Huoyi County cannot be captured,
Doesn’t the Hexi Army no longer need logistical supplies?”
Li Huaiguang nodded, "That's the problem. Usually, the frontier counties under their control are used as the logistics center. For example, if I want to attack Chang'an, we must use Hedong City as the logistics center, and we will never use Hua County as the logistics center.
Important areas, with such a long distance in between, are all under the control of the enemy, so it is absurd to use Huo County as an important logistics area."
"What does the prince think Guo Song means?"
Li Huaiguang walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said coldly: "This is Guo Song using our people to spread false news to me and asking me to station heavy troops in Huoyi County. As the gentleman said, with Jiang Houze's identity
, how could it be possible to know such top-secret information? If I am not mistaken, either Guo Song knew Jiang Houze's identity, or Guo Song said it publicly in order to mislead our military deployment."
Speaking of this, Li Huaiguang sneered and said: "Jiexiu County should be the top priority of our defense!"