Late Tang Dynasty: I

Chapter 183 Controversy, the emperor is unwilling to fight
His Majesty the Emperor is temporarily beyond the reach of Hexi's affairs, and his current thoughts are all on Qin Zongquan.

The army passed Mengjin Pass, which is the boundary of Luoyang. Zhu Yezinu's cavalry scouts took the lead to meet Li Siyuan.

Li Ye ordered to continue to investigate in the direction of Caizhou and Zhengzhou.

As the more news he received, Li Ye's expression became more serious.

Li Ye asked Jingxiang: "Qin Zongquan only has a few states, why can he afford so many soldiers?"

Qin Zongquan's current territory is only Caizhou and five or six surrounding states. Most of these states and counties were destroyed by military disasters and the population is dying. Even so, it is found that Qin Zongquan still has more than [-] troops.

Jingxiang said: "Your Majesty, Qin Zongquan's troops plundered all directions, from Shanguo in the west, Qingqi in the east, Jianghuai in the south, and Weihua in the north. When the fish rotted and the birds were scattered, the population was cut off, and when the army food was insufficient, they searched for the common people and used salt. The corpses were pickled and used as army rations, so it has never been heard that anyone in Qin Zongquan's army died of starvation."

The cannibalism of Qin Zongquan's army is also recorded in history books, but the pale words can't reproduce the tragedy.

The prefectures of Xu, He, Hu, Ru, Zheng, and Shen are all uninhabited for thousands of miles, and the population is completely empty.

Li Ye took a long breath and said:

"Zhu Wen and Sun Ru are the mortal enemies of Qin Zongquan. People like Wang Shifan, Zhu Xuan, Zhu Jin, Shi Pu, and Yang Xingmi are also available, but they are often at odds with each other. What should I do?"

Zhu Wen and the towns in Shandong have completely fallen out, and Sun Ru has a vengeance with Qin Zongquan for killing his brother and betraying him, and he is also a sworn enemy with Yang Xingmi.

You beat me in Zhuzhen, I beat him, the relationship is very chaotic, if they all come here with the order, I am afraid that they have not arrived in Caizhou, and these people will start to do it by themselves.

Jing Xiang shook his head secretly, most of the emperor's pacification of Sanchuan and Hezhong was determined by the proclamation, but this Central Plains is very different.

Those who can survive here either have a backer, or are the backer themselves, and it doesn't matter whether they are ordered or not.

"Your Majesty, if the imperial army does not come, the towns will still use all their strength. The court is now gathering heavy troops in Luoyang, and the ministers may not necessarily obey orders. Moreover, Sun Ru is still a bandit. As an official, I am afraid that the towns will be dissatisfied, and the people will have resentment!"

Li Ye changed his position and thought about it. All the towns should want to protect themselves and weaken the court, maybe they also want to prevent the court from taking advantage of it after the war!
He is also a big head now, and in the face of complicated situations, his principle has always been to win over one faction, isolate one faction, and attack another faction.

In the current situation, Qin Zongquan must be the first to attack now, and Sun Ru is next, but Sun Ru is in full swing, and he may be able to take advantage of it.

Zhu Wen must be wooed, but if Zhu Wen is wooed, what will the towns in Shandong do?
His Majesty the Emperor frowned slightly, and asked, "Then what should the court do now?"

Jing Xiang's face was serious, and he said: "Stick to Heluo, think of the fundamentals, advance slowly, and wait for the right time!"

Li Ye pondered and remained silent, Zuo Huwei Army, Zuo Shence Army, Right Shenwei Army, Sixth Cavalry Army, Shanguo Army, Wang Rulin's 10,000 cavalry, a total of nearly [-] troops. Pull out four or five armies, [-]+ armies, plus soldiers and horses from various towns, the first battle will be a decisive battle, and the bandits will be defeated in one fell swoop.

His Majesty the Emperor wanted to fight quickly, so he heard Jing Xiang continue to say: "Your Majesty, Qin Zongquan and Sun Ru are deadly enemies. Zhu and Wen can't go east, they can't go north, and the imperial court sits in Heluo in the west. Only Nantu, and Qin Zongquan occupies Xuanwu. Yingzhou was plundered from time to time, and Zhu Wen must want to get rid of it quickly.

But the current situation is that when His Majesty leads the army, Qin Zongquan must take the imperial court as the head of the enemy, and the towns do not want the imperial court to become powerful, so they must sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight for the benefit of the fisherman.

As long as we hold on to Heluo, Qin Zong's power over several prefectures, how can we hold it for a long time, it will be plundered from all directions, and the towns will suffer. Sending an army straight to Caizhou, the lair of the bandits, can be defeated in a single battle. This is what I planned for Your Majesty! "

After Jing Xiang finished speaking, he looked at the emperor. He was really afraid that His Majesty's impulsiveness would cause the army to rush in. Jing Xiang knew how difficult Qin Zongquan was.

At the most time, Zhu Wen saved food and grass in Songzhou for a year, and [-] troops surrounded Caizhou for five months in vain.

Although the imperial army has [-] soldiers, Zhu Zhen's elite veterans are only [-] left tigers, and [-] to [-] cavalry are not bad, but other armies have never encountered such a fierce army, I am afraid they will be defeated. , Shanguo Army, and Wang Rulin's cavalry are even more worrying.

You must know that Qin Zongquan's subordinates are either old soldiers of Huang Chao or old generals of the Zhongwu Army, all of whom survived after hundreds of battles.

Li Ye looked at Jing Xiang, saw the worried expression on his face, and said with a smile: "Originally, each town has its own balance, and when I lead the army here, they all regard me as the enemy, well, now I also retract my head, look Whoever survived it!"

Li Ye thought for a while, and felt that Jingxiang was reasonable, that he was not willing to order the world to wipe out Cai's bandits in one fell swoop, and the current situation was very delicate.

Zhu Wen fully shrunk his troops and guarded the city pass. After Sun Ru occupied Yang Xingmi's Luzhou, he also had a tacit understanding with Yang Xingmi.

And Qin Zongquan also shrunk his troops to the states, and ignored Sun Ru who killed his younger brother Qin Zongheng. The whole Central Plains seemed to be waiting for His Majesty to make trouble.

This is a powder keg, and all parties are gathering momentum, waiting for the moment when it will explode.

As for the towns in Shandong, it's rare that Zhu Wen didn't come to fight, and they each licked their wounds. The matter of Caizhou has nothing to do with them...

……

The imperial court sent troops to Heluo, affecting the whole world.

Henan, Bianliang.

Zhu Wen sent people to find out that His Majesty led the army into Luoyang, he was very happy, and said: "It must be for the Cai thief!"

Zhang Tingfan, the envoy of the imperial camp, said worriedly: "The emperor will order all the towns to obey when he seeks thieves. If this is the case, what should the commander-in-chief do?"

Old Zhu sneered and said: "Naturally, in honor of the court's righteousness, we will raise the whole town's soldiers to go to the national calamity together!"

Zhang Tingfan was born as an excellent man, and Lao Zhu used his loyalty to resourcefulness. Since Jingxiang left, Li Zhen has gradually become Zhu Wen's reliance, and just now he was awarded the title of Jiedu judge. Seeing this, Zhu Wen has a problem with the school exam Li Zhendao: "Li Jiedu, what do you think?"

Li Zhen pondered for a moment and said: "During the time of Dezong, Li Xilie in Huaixi rebelled, and the imperial court ordered soldiers and horses in all the towns to hunt down the thieves. The towns gathered 40 soldiers and horses, which took several months to no avail, and the imperial court spent 300 million yuan. There are countless grains and grasses, at this time, it should be very similar to that time!"

"Haha! Interesting, you scholars!" Zhu Wen laughed loudly and said, "Xuanwu is short of food, and the imperial court helps me raise soldiers and horses, and gives money, how can I object!"

It takes a lot of work to fight a war. It is best to fight for three to five years and use all the firepower of Qin Zongquan on the court...

(End of this chapter)