Great Han Empire

Chapter 310 The rain is coming
General Li Hong led an army of [-] and [-] civilians, and slowly entered the Great Wall Fortress in Shangjun, Bingzhou.

All kinds of military supplies such as food, weapons, and [-] civilians sent from Chang'an City to the fortress were immediately handed over to Bing Cao Ying.Without further ado, Li Hong first paid the soldiers their salaries and ordered them to stay at the Great Wall Fortress for ten days to wait for further arrangements from the imperial court.Since he received the imperial edict ordering him to go to Taiyuan County of Bingzhou to put down the ant thief's rebellion immediately, he has never received an imperial edict, not even a document from Shangshutai.Originally, he thought that these edicts and documents had been sent to the fortress, but after arriving at the fortress, he realized that the imperial court had not sent him any news.

Something must have happened in Luoyang, otherwise he wouldn't have been given any instructions for more than ten days.Li Hong didn't know what was wrong with the court, so he was very anxious.Although he knew from the Great Wall Fortress that Zhang Yan had occupied the entire territory of Taiyuan, and that Yang Feng had also started to attack Shangdang, he had no marching route, and he didn't know who would provide him with food and grass along the way.

===

In the big tent, Li Hong sat on the huge map of Bingzhou, staring at Taiyuan County in a daze.

Tian Zhong walked in with a smile.

"My lord, have you thought about how to beat Zhang Yan?"

Li Hong smiled, stood up and asked him to sit down, "Old man, you have 10 people under your command, how to beat Zhang Yan should be your business."

"My lord, what jokes are you talking about?" Tian Zhong said, "Wars are your business, I'm only in charge of food and supplies. I'm here to ask you for help."

"An important person?" Li Hong asked strangely, "Who do you want?"

"Now there are [-] civilians and hundreds of thousands of livestock in the Bing Cao camp. These have to be arranged and commanded by people. I don't have so many people. You need to increase my manpower immediately."

Li Hong thought for a while and asked, "One hundred thousand people? Do we need so many people?"

"Of course we need it." Tian Zhong said, "We used to fight in northern Xinjiang. There were thousands of cavalry, and we didn't have much food and supplies. We could just use the extra horses to carry them, and we didn't need to recruit civilians. When we arrived in Jizhou, all the food and supplies would be provided by Jizhou. The government is responsible for providing it, so we don't have to worry about it. On the way to Xiliang, the food and grass are provided by the counties along the way, so we only need to bring the baggage. When we arrive in Xijiang, all the food and grass are provided by Mr. Zhang Wen and Lord Gai Xun is in charge, so we don’t need to worry about these things, but it’s not possible now, Bingzhou is poor, the population is small, and the roads are difficult. Food, grass and supplies have to be transported from Chang’an and Luoyang. "

"My lord, in my opinion, if this battle breaks out, one hundred thousand civilians may not be enough." Tian Zhong said with a frown.

Li Hong nodded and said with concern: "Old man, you are tired. How many people do you want?"

"Except for doctors, carpenters, blacksmiths and others in Bing Cao Ying, there are less than 500 people who really help with things. My lord, how many people do you think I need?"

"Let Tang Yun, Yin Si, and Pang De take the Black Panther to the camp." Li Hong said with a smile, "Is 3000 people enough?"

"No, no." Tian Zhong waved his hands again and again, "There are too many barbarians in the Yicong camp, and the peasants are ordinary people, and they are very disgusted with the barbarians. You should transfer Zhang He's soldiers to me, okay?"

Li Hong frowned and said, "Disgusted? Without them fighting, Guanzhong and Guanxi would have been plundered by the Xianbei long ago."

"My lord, they are ordinary people, and the reasoning doesn't make sense. Don't make trouble for nothing. You should transfer Zhang He to me."

===

The two chatted casually, and Li Hong asked: "If we add the hundreds of thousands of livestock, how many days can we support?"

"The rations of 30 soldiers and [-] civilian husbands, plus fodder for war horses and livestock, according to my estimation, the current stock is only enough for us to use for [-] days at most, and we can probably go to Taiyuan, and then there is not much left, so we can only rely on slaughter The livestock are full." Tian Zhong said, "Why do you ask this? Do you want to cross the Yellow River and rush to Taiyuan in advance?"

Li Hong shook his head and said with a smile, "If you say that, I won't dare to leave."

"My lord, this amount of food is definitely not enough to fight in Taiyuan County." Tian Zhong said, "This batch of food, grass and luggage is prepared for fighting the Xianbei people. I heard that it was originally for the Northern Army. They didn't want to go to Bingzhou to fight Zhang Yan Is it? Because of the importance of the battle in Western Xinjiang, the imperial court temporarily transported it from Luoyang to Chang'an for emergency."

Tian Zhong suddenly remembered something, and said indignantly: "My lord, the northern army stays in Luoyang every day, and does not fight any battles, but the armaments are the best in the Han country. The court looks at people with two eyes, it is too unfair to us. .”

"We are the frontier army, of course the imperial court will not give us the best weapons." Li Hong laughed, "Once they are snatched by foreigners and imitated in large numbers, our frontier soldiers will be the victims."

"Your Excellency thinks too much of the barbarians. They don't have iron, and they don't have craftsmen who are proficient in making them. They can't imitate them like the iron shovels used for attacking the city, as well as the crossbow carts and repeating ballista carts." Tian Zhong said disdainfully. He said with a smile, "Speaking of it, our Great Han Kingdom is still very powerful."

Li Hong snorted, somewhat dissatisfied with Tian Zhong's words.He has been in the Xianbei country since he can remember. The Xianbei people saved his life and taught him many survival rules. He always has an inseparable feeling for the Xianbei people in his heart, and this feeling has directly affected him. Views on Hu people of various ethnic groups.

"Are there also a lot of vehicles in this batch of ordnance?" Li Hong asked.

"Yes, there are 660 military vehicles of various types, most of which are crossbows and continuous ballistas." Tian Zhong said happily, "There are also 34 siege ladders, 170 pieces of swords, guns, halberds, spears and other hand-held weapons. , 58 strong bows, 34 long arrows, and [-] pieces of [-] kinds of other kinds of ordnance. It is almost equivalent to the weapons inventory of a large state."

"So many?" Li Hong asked in surprise, "The tens of thousands of soldiers in the Northern Army need to use so many weapons?"

"No wonder the Northern Army is so powerful. Even if we use these weapons on the battlefield, we can't resist them." Tian Zhong sighed, "The Northern Army is invincible in the world, half of the credit is due to these weapons."

"Old man is different. When General Huangfu, Lord Lu Zhi, and Lord Zhu Jun led their elites to suppress the Yellow Turban Army, they did not rely on weapons, but strategies." Li Hong laughed.

"Forget it, I don't believe it. They don't have these weapons." Tian Zhong snorted and said sarcastically, "With so many weapons, they can kill as many Yellow Turbans as possible."

Tian Zhong then looked at Li Hong seriously, and asked in a low voice, "Zimin, I want to ask you a personal question. Do you really want to go to Taiyuan to destroy Zhang Yan's Yellow Turban Army?"

Li Hong shook his head and said in a low voice: "When we were in Jizhou, we said that killing the Yellow Turban Army is no way at all. After you finish killing here, he will come out again. These days, refugees are everywhere. These people You can become a Yellow Turban Army at any time, and you can't kill them all." He hesitated for a moment, then continued, "Don't make any noise, I have my own solution."

Tian Dazhong was overjoyed, patted Li Hong hard, and said with a smile: "I knew you would not kill again. The Battle of Yingtao chilled people's hearts. Who are the Yellow Turban Army? Aren't they just refugees who have no food to eat?" Huangfusong killed [-] Yellow Turban soldiers in Xiaquyangkeng, what happened? Zhang Niujiao immediately appeared in various parts of Jizhou with hundreds of thousands of troops. Who is afraid of death these days?"

===

The curtain was lifted, and a heroic Xiao Lan walked in, dressed in military uniform.

"Xiao Lan, come quickly, come quickly..." Tian Zhong's eyes were narrowed into a slit when he laughed suddenly, "Son, are you tired from working under the general's account recently?"

Seeing Tian Zhong, Xiao Lan ran over in surprise, saluted respectfully, then took Tian Zhong's hands and greeted him repeatedly.

"Old man, when did you come? You won't be leaving at night. Zhongyuan and I invite you to dinner, and you can also have a good chat with the general. You haven't come for a few days, and the general has mentioned it several times."

"I'm too busy, so I don't have time to stay here for dinner, next time." Tian Zhong said with a smile, "Bingcao camp is only a few miles away from the camp, if you have time, go to my place with Zhongyuan, and the meals at my place It’s better than here. I don’t know what your generals eat, it’s similar to horse feed. Come, come, let me see if you’ve lost weight because you haven’t eaten Bing Cao Ying’s food recently.”

Xiao Lan smiled embarrassedly.

Li Hongda laughed and said: "Old man, what you said is too much, why do I eat horse feed? Is the meal of your soldier Cao camp different from that of my camp?"

Tian Zhong ignored him, looked carefully at the red-faced Xiao Lan, pretended to be angry and said: "You're thin, you're thin, Xiao Lan, you should pack up your things and follow me to the Bing Cao camp. The general only knows how to order you, that Li The kid is probably heartless and doesn't know how to feel sorry for you, so you should go to my soldier Cao camp."

Li Hong couldn't help laughing, shook his head again and again, and walked aside with the documents sent by Xiao Lan.

Tian Zhong and Xiao Lan sat together and chatted affectionately.

===

Sending Xiao Lan away, Tian Zhong stroked his goatee with a smile, and sighed, "Master Zhu is blessed to have raised such a good daughter, if it's mine..."

"Don't be dissatisfied, Xiao Lan treats you so well, I'm jealous." Li Hong laughed, "Zi Shan and Zi Long snatched her out, and I haven't even heard a word of thanks. What about you? See how affectionate she is calling you, wishing she could throw herself into your arms and act like a spoiled child." Li Hong shook his head and sighed intentionally, "Oh, I'm so mad..."

"You are already a general, and you still care about Xiaolan thanking you, you really have no guts." Tian Zhong laughed.

"Old man, you are now a captain." Li Hong asked, "How does it feel to be a captain?"

"Not good." Tian Zhong shook his head and said, "I'm too tired, and things are endless. Compared with the past when I was looking at the gates of the Endless City, I feel that it is better to be a soldier. I would rather go to see the gates than I don’t want to be this captain.”

Li Hong smiled and said: "After the victory over the Xianbei people this time, Your Majesty has been gracious and promoted three Zhonglang generals, twelve school lieutenants, ten captains, and the number of officials in the army has reached 25. people……"

"Your Excellency, you don't think this is the great grace of the emperor, do you?" Tian Zhong smiled lightly, "In the current Han Kingdom, even the Marquis of the Guannei are flying all over the sky, let alone officials with two thousand shi." He said a little angrily , "How many battles have we fought? How many people have died? Look at others, powerful families, rich and wealthy, which family does not have a Guanneihou? Which family does not have an official with two thousand shi? Buying it with money, we trade our lives for it, is this also called the mighty grace of the emperor?"

Li Hong smiled slightly, but did not speak.

"That what He Miao, relying on himself as a relative of the emperor, used tens of thousands of elite soldiers from the Northern Army to fight against some rebels, and was named a chariot general by the emperor, Marquis of Jiyang, bah!" Tian Zhong spat fiercely on the ground, He cursed loudly, "What kind of shit."

Li Hong laughed, shook his hand at him, and said: "Okay, okay, you will scold you if you are not appointed as an official, but you will be even more violent if you are appointed. You don't care about this captain, but someone cares. Don't say this in the future." Say it, so as not to be impeached."

===

Li Hong immediately picked up the volume of documents and handed them to Tian Zhongdao: "This is written by Li Zhongyuan. He said that due to the extensive use of vehicles in the army, he suggested that another battalion should be formed in the army to use vehicles and weapons in order to make full use of vehicles. of great power."

Tian Zhong didn't even look at it, and put the bamboo slips on the table, praised: "This is a good idea, Li Xiaozi has a good vision. There are only a limited number of soldiers in the Cao camp, and it is impossible to use these vehicles in a concentrated manner. I have been working on this for the past few days. Worrying. More than 1000 vehicles are placed there, and I can only look at them but not use them. I am really upset. This is a good idea.”

"Establish another battalion of military vehicles?" Li Hong asked, "But these vehicles are mainly ballistas. Unless they are attacking and defending cities, it is difficult to exert their power. Look..."

"We used it once when we blocked the Xianbei people in Qingshi Mountain, and the effect was very good." Tian Zhong said, "If these vehicles can be used in field battles, our casualties will be greatly reduced, and at the same time, we can increase the odds of winning the battle."

"What about transportation?"

"Let them figure out their own solution to this problem." Tian Zhong said, "Could it be that the meal is ready, do you still want us to feed it?"

Li Hong nodded and said with a smile: "Then who is suitable to lead the military car battalion?"

"Zhang He, let Zhang He go, I like this kid. I still remember that when we first arrived in Jizhou, this kid suddenly appeared from behind us with provisions and soldiers, which shocked us." Tian Zhong laughed. , "This kid has a good brain and is also cautious. It must be the most suitable for him to lead the army camp."

"In addition, I suggest that Yin Si be the marching commander for him."

"Oh?" Li Hong asked in surprise, "Why? Because he is proficient in these vehicles?"

"Of course, it's a waste to put such a genius in your camp." Tian Zhong said cheerfully, "Don't look at him because he is young, but he has skills. I told you that he wants to make the throwing stone If his big car is made, it will be very powerful, wouldn't it just strengthen the strength of the military car battalion?"

Li Hong nodded again and again, and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, I will arrange this matter immediately after discussing it with the adults Yu Xing and Zi Lie."

===

Immediately, Li Hong thought of something, and said to Tian Zhong: "Last time you said you wanted to allocate some money to Yin Si, did you just make this stone-throwing cart?"

"Yes, there are some other ordnance. This kid has a lot of weird things in his mind, and I plan to let him make them all to see. Maybe we can find a few practical weapons, which can be used on the battlefield in the future, and can also reduce the number of soldiers casualties."

Li Hong said with a smile: "Old man, you should save money. We didn't keep much money when we were in Xiliang, and we used a little less. If there is any need in the future..."

Tian Zhong chuckled, leaned into Li Hong's ear and whispered a few words, Li Hong suddenly said in disbelief: "There are so many..."

Tian Zhong sat down complacently, and said with a smile: "That's why I said Li Zhongyuan has vision. Without his idea, how can we get so much money now. General, when Zhongyuan and Xiao Lan get married in the future, we will have to pay for it." Send a heavy gift, otherwise, I'm sorry for Li Xiaozi's idea."

"Why don't I know?" Li Hong asked strangely, "When did Zhong Yuan come up with this idea?"

"When we left Yicheng." Tian Zhong smiled, "Everyone gave you a farewell party that night. Li Xiaozi and I sat and chatted together. I said that the soldiers were poor and their salaries could not be paid. He said, that's not enough. It's easy to handle. There are rich businessmen in Chang'an City. Find a few reliable ones, give them some money, and let them run the business on their behalf. You can make money immediately, and the money will flow. I said, is this okay? The boy looked at it with contempt. I, just like looking at a beggar, he said, why not, the court and local bureaucrats not only get rich by corrupting the law, but also make money by making money in this way. Are you richer when you are an official?"

"I heard these things for the first time, and I was dumbfounded. Didn't I say that those scholars and bureaucrats looked down on businessmen? How could they deal with businessmen? Li Xiaozi said, looking down on them is nothing but looking down on them, but no one wants to have trouble with money, it's time to associate with them." He said that although many aristocratic bureaucrats seem to be safe and sound, they actually send their confidants to run around in private, and even today they send people to do business secretly to make a lot of money."

"Later I said, is there anyone in the army doing this? He said too much. From the northern and southern armies in the capital to the frontier army, as long as there is a military officer with a brain, there is no one who does not do this. So I said Ask him, what money do they use? Li Xiaozi said, it’s too simple, use military pay, otherwise when there is no war, how can there be arrears of military pay? You adults are powerful and clean, and you will not use military pay, but your hands There is money that was withheld during the eradication of corruption, so just use that money.”

"I was dubious at the time, so I didn't dare to tell you. Later, I discussed it carefully with Mr. Xianyu, Mr. Xu, and Mr. Qu. We thought it was a good idea, so Mr. Qu sent people to Chang'an to find his two elder brothers. The two of them My elder brothers are all businessmen, you know that too. After hearing the news, they hurried over and agreed wholeheartedly."

"A few days ago, they sent people to me and said that we had made a fortune. Because they got the news from us in advance and knew that the Xianbei people had already started to attack Beidi County, so they hoarded a lot of food and various supplies. Wait for Xianbei After people invaded Beidi County and the news spread that it was endangering Guanzhong, everyone in Guanzhong panicked, so the prices of all things went up, so..."

"Food? Where did they get so much food?" Li Hong asked strangely, "Didn't all the food in Guanzhong be given to us?"

"I heard that it was transported from the Yangzhou area by a businessman named Xu Ling, and that businessman made a fortune because of it."

Li Hong smiled happily and said: "It's good to get rich, otherwise we will be controlled by the court in everything, and it will be very troublesome in the future. I will discuss it with them immediately to see if there are other ways to make money."

Tian Zhong laughed loudly when he heard the words: "I can't see that you are greedy for money just like His Majesty, haha..."

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(End of this chapter)