Guo Xin was delayed on the road, and by the time he arrived at the main hall of the Governor's Mansion, all the generals had almost arrived. When Guo Xin walked into the hall, he felt that the atmosphere in the hall was slightly different from the previous time when he ordered Mao. After careful observation, he found that it was because the expressions of the warriors were more serious. But he didn't think much about it. After exchanging greetings with a few familiar commanders, he silently found a corner to stand.
After a while, Xie Hui and Wang Jin walked in together. The expression on Xie Hui's face was slightly solemn, but Wang Jin's face was very relaxed and comfortable. In Guo Xin's eyes, the contrast between the two expressions was very interesting. With the appointment of Taiyuan, although Xie Hui was promoted to the commander of Xiangdu, he was still in charge of the same people, and most of them were actually assigned to Wang Jin. ...And Wang Jin has passed an important threshold in the advancement of military generals from commander to capital commander. When he reaches the level of capital commander, he will often have the opportunity to show his face in front of officials, let alone in a prominent position. In the forbidden army position.
When a military commander reaches this level, the longer his seniority, the more likely he is to be promoted. If he is lucky, it will only be a matter of time before he becomes a lord.
Xie Hui and Wang Jin sat facing south, and the other generals stood on both sides.
Xie Hui picked up the cup on the table and took a sip, and quickly said: "I want to talk about two things today. First, the Khitan Lord has set off from Daliang, leading the civil and military departments, military officials, and palace maids. All the eunuchs have returned north. Before the end of the month, the Khitans have crossed the river from Baima and are now rushing to attack Xiangzhou."
Xie Hui spoke slowly, but the message he conveyed was very clear - the Khitans were already on their way back north.
When Guo Xin heard this, he realized that what his father Guo Wei had said before was indeed true. The Khitan people had lived in a poor place for a long time and seemed to be intolerant of the heat in the Central Plains. It was only April and they were about to return north to the grasslands.
Of course, in Guo Xin's view, the Khitan people's acclimatization was only a secondary reason. Otherwise, wouldn't the Jin people who also came from the north have driven a certain dynasty out of the Central Plains? What's more important is that the Khitan people can no longer stay in the Central Plains. When the Khitan Lord Yelu Deguang entered Bianliang City, he granted imperial edicts to various vassal towns in the Jin Dynasty, and each vassal town also competed to submit their vassal status. However, the Khitan Lord soon indulged The tribe went everywhere to clear grass and valleys, leaving the Central Plains in a mess. They even set up so-called "Kuo Jiao" to go to various feudal towns to search for fat... which greatly annoyed the local commanders.
What the Khitans did in the Central Plains was extremely stupid, but it was obviously beneficial to Hedong. Since the towns had a hard time under the Khitans, why didn't they defect to Taiyuan? What's more, the Tang and Jin dynasties had precedents of conquering the Central Plains from Hedong. Among the towns, only Liu Zhiyuan had the best chance of driving away the Khitans.
The other generals in the hall became excited when they heard that the Khitan Lord had fled from Bianliang:
"The Khitan thieves go back!"
"You ran away too early! You haven't had a fight with grandpa yet!"
"They must be afraid of the power of our Han soldiers..."
The generals expressed their thoughts directly, while Xie Hui stopped and looked at the cup in his hand, as if there was something novel in the water in the cup that attracted him. Guo Xin looked at the subtle movements of Xie Hui's hands and remembered that before the battle at Yanmen Pass, Xie Hui also drew a map with water to explain to the generals - Xie Hui's temperament was as meticulous as water, and he was also very cautious in leading his troops.
After everyone's enthusiasm calmed down a little, Xie Hui continued: "Xiangzhou is on the only way for the Khitans to return north, but it was occupied by the Hebei rebels in February. I heard that the soldiers and food in the city are sufficient, so the Khitans must be there. Let’s spend some time at Xiangzhou City first.”
Wang Jin interjected from the side: "Then we can just leave Jingxing and go to Zhenzhou to stop the Khitan people?"
Xie Hui shook his head: "The officials have listened to the advice of the deputy privy envoy Guo Shijun and decided on the strategy of marching south to the two states of Shaanxi and Shanxi and directly capturing the two capitals of Luobian."
Guo Shijun naturally refers to Guo Wei, Guo Xinxin thought: Guo Wei is still very talkative around Liu Zhiyuan.
Xie Hui turned to Guo Xin and nodded slightly, but said without pausing: "The second is that the official has appointed Liu Chong, the emperor's younger brother, as the commander of Mabudu in the northern capital, as the agent of Taiyuan Yin, and will be in charge of the affairs of the government starting from this month. In addition, the Liao general Geng Chongmei stationed troops in Zezhou with the intention of attacking Luzhou. The officials took Shi Hongzhao as the vanguard of the camp and led more than 10,000 infantry and cavalry to attack first."
Guo Xin was quite surprised to hear that Shi Hongzhao was appointed as the vanguard of the army again. Didn't Shi Hongzhao take the credit for the first battle after the founding of the People's Republic of China, but Liu Zhiyuan was also going to give him the credit for opening the way south? You must know that the vassal towns of Shaanxi and Shanxi had already defected to Taiyuan at the beginning of the year. After the Khitans left, there were not many tough battles to fight... It can only be said that Shi Hongzhao was highly regarded by Liu Zhiyuan, and he had a vague feeling of being the first general in the army.
Regarding Taiyuan's decision to go south, everyone was excited for a while, and then became indifferent: no matter how fierce the fight in the south was, they could not compete with Daizhou at their feet.
Wang Jin was even more dissatisfied and said: "This makes no sense. Envoy Shi came to Daizhou with us. There will be a battle this time. Why didn't the officials think of us and let us stay here and eat the northwest wind?" ? If I had known earlier, it would have been better not to fight this small battle. This time, I would have lost the great fame in the south..."
Everyone also became depressed. Only Xie Hui smiled mysteriously and reassured everyone: "Everything must be done by someone. The officials will not forget us people."
Guo Xin looked at Xie Hui's smile, and then remembered Guo Weixin's appeal, and something suddenly dawned on him: Since Feng Guojun was already in the forbidden army, he probably wouldn't be buried in Daizhou for too long.
…
Guo Xin guessed that the Fengguo army would soon be mobilized again, and when he came out of the governor's house, he felt that the sun above his head was brighter.
After returning to the army, Guo Xin directly summoned Zhang Chenghua and Wang Yuanmao and asked them to spread the news of the Khitan's return to the north to the army.
Because Wang Jin was promoted to the commander of the first army, according to the practice at this time, the original commander Zuo became the direct subordinate of the commander of the capital, while Guo Xin took the position of the second commander who had been killed previously. As a matter of course, the third subordinate under him became his direct personal soldier.
Guo Xin himself was successfully promoted to commander, and he did not forget that he had "robbed" Zhang Chenghua's position as the capital commander before, so this time he directly promoted Zhang Chenghua two levels to deputy commander, and Wang Yuanmao took his place and was promoted to the capital commander—— It was a common practice in the military that the commanders below could be directly appointed by the capital commander, but it was just something Guo Xin mentioned in front of Wang Jin.
Guo Xin now has 500 soldiers under his command - although the number of casualties has not yet been filled because he has just come down from the battlefield, so it is not full.
Guo Xin told the two people the news from the governor's office. Zhang Chenghua's face was slightly moved, and Wang Yuanmao expressed even more joy: "So, we will be able to enter Bianliang City soon!"
Looking at the expressions of the two people in front of him, Guo Xin could guess that the generals in the army would be in the same mood as Wang Yuanmao at this time after receiving the news. The return of the Khitans to the north is indeed a big event. After the Khitans run away, who among the remaining towns can stop Liu Zhiyuan from taking over the Central Plains? Who can stop everyone from enjoying the glory and wealth after their achievements are settled?
