The Luoyang Imperial Palace was restricted by the terrain and the Luoshui River in the south. The scale of the imperial city was far less than that of Daxing Palace, and it could not accommodate many official offices in the center. So the imperial court placed the Shangshu Province, which had the most departments and the heaviest tasks, in the middle of the East City east of the palace city. From west to east, the southern part of the East City was the Shaofu Supervisor, the Military Supervisor, Dali Temple, Taichang Temple, Guanglu Temple, Sinong Temple; and Hanjiacang in the north.
At the official residence of the Ministry of War of Shangshu Province, Yang Ji was talking to several military ministers in the lobby of the Military Aircraft Department.
The Xiaoguo Army is the emperor's personal army Xiaoguo, and it is two different military systems from the Sixteenth Guards. They are nominally managed by the Ministry of War, but the actual power lies in the hands of the Military Aircraft Department. The five military ministers of the Military Aircraft Department are Yin Shishi, Wang Bian, Dugu Sheng, Jing Yuanheng, and Yu Wen Jingli. Although Yin Shishi became the Deputy Protector of the Anton Protectorate, due to the first batch of the Anton Protectorate, There were 10,000 Xiaoguo troops in the garrison, so he continued to command the Xiaoguo army in the name of Minister of Military and Aircraft.
In addition to the five military ministers in the Military Aircraft Department, the Xiaoguo Army is divided into ten mansions, each commanding 10,000 soldiers. In addition, there are also civilian personnel such as chief historians, chief registrars, and various Cao Cao at all levels.
The Xiaoguo Army suffered heavy losses during the Eastern Expedition to Goguryeo, and because 10,000 soldiers served as garrison troops, Yang Guang decided to make up the amount of 100,000 troops. The source of troops was still from the Twelve Guanzhong Army and local garrison troops. , military government, and civilian selection. Yang Ji only found out about this after he returned to the court. He was about to leave his post today, so he came to the Military Aircraft Department to learn about the new recruits of the Xiaoguo Army. He asked Wang Bian, who was in charge of recruit training: "General Wang, how is the combat effectiveness of the new recruits?" ?”
Wang Bian cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, the Xiaoguo Army became famous in the first battle in Liaodong and became famous all over the world. When we were recruiting soldiers, warriors and brave men from all over the country enthusiastically signed up. After competitions between various places and armies, finally The soldiers obtained are all brave men."
After introducing the individual qualities of the recruits, he then talked about the training situation: "The soldiers have a very good foundation. It's just that the soldiers come from all over the country and the soldiers at all levels of combat teams are not familiar with each other. There is still a lack of tacit understanding. In addition, they have a good understanding of each other." Many battle formation techniques are relatively unfamiliar, so they have not yet developed combat effectiveness. In addition, military discipline must also be focused on."
The quality of the individual soldiers of the Sui Dynasty's main battle army is no worse than that of the Turks, and the Xiaoguo Army is an army with strong soldiers. If they fight alone, the well-equipped soldiers of the Xiaoguo Army will not be afraid of the strong Turks. However, war is not a competition or a duel. Since ancient times, the Central Plains dynasty has pursued the pursuit of winning with less and gaining huge results with minimal losses. Therefore, the art of battle formations with multiple arms has always been the top priority in daily training.
Daxi Changru led 2,000 elite soldiers to fight against more than 100,000 Turkic troops. In the end, he not only annihilated more than 10,000 enemy soldiers, but also scared the Turkic army that surrounded them to tears and retreated. What they mainly rely on is the battle formation combining multiple arms and the tenacious fighting will of the entire army.
Yang Ji pondered for a moment and said: "When we were in Liangzhou, we always wanted to use old methods to introduce new methods to improve the overall combat effectiveness. However, we were in a war period at the time. If we used this method, it would bring down the elite divisions. The combat effectiveness is low, so it cannot be executed. Now that there is no war, this method is very suitable for the Xiaoguo Army."
"Actually, the general and others also have this consideration. As long as the new recruits adapt to the training intensity and tactics of the Xiaoguo Army, let the veterans have a big competition with them to dampen the new recruits' arrogance, and then use the Hundred-Man Brigade's The way to supplement the ten mansions." Wang Bian has been serving as an official and general in Liangzhou since the day Yang Ji became an official. He did not enter the capital as a general until the end of the previous year. Not only was he a member of the Wei Wang family, but he also knew Yang well. He is a man of temperament, so he speaks casually without worrying about anything.
Yang Ji's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he asked with great interest: "When will the competition be held?"
"It's hard to say this!" Wang Bian explained: "The earliest recruits arrived in Luoyang for less than a month, and some even only had more than ten days. The competition can only be held next summer."
Yang Ji said with great regret: "If I am in Luoyang, you must inform me."
Wang Bian couldn't help but laugh: "Of course it will pass, Your Majesty."
At this time, Jing Yuanheng asked: "Your Majesty, did you hear General Dugu say that the elite men of Goguryeo are not weaker than me, the Sui Dynasty?"
"The elites of Goguryeo are indeed not weak, and their weapons and equipment are no worse than our Sui army." Yang Ji gave a very positive agreement, and then said: "But their kings and generals are of low quality, and many of them are from ancient nobles. The generals and commanders are very fearful and cowardly in battle. As soon as they fight, these people will flee. Even though there are some brave generals who are not afraid of fighting to the death, they are defeated like a mountain and it is difficult for one person to save the overall situation."
"This is exactly the same as Nan Chen." Jing Yuanheng said with deep emotion: "The last general was lucky enough to participate in the battle to destroy Chen. The situation in Nan Chen is that the soldiers are strong and the generals are lazy. Most of the generals are not good at fighting and are greedy for life and fear of death, but they are greedy for military pay. , an expert in deceiving superiors and subordinates. When the soldiers go to the battlefield, almost all of them are unwilling to serve for them, so they are naturally vulnerable."
Yang Ji nodded and said: "Before the military reform, the Beijing soldiers deteriorated quite seriously. The situation was not much better than that of Nanchen and Goguryeo. The military mansions in various places were no exception, so there were military reforms, military government withdrawals, etc. It's okay. You can lead the Xiaoguo Army well, and don't go the same way as the Beijing Army."
"General, I will obey your orders." All the generals responded in unison.
Yuwen Jingli looked at the hourglass next to him, smiled at Yang Ji and said, "Your Majesty, I will be resigning in about three quarters. Why don't you stay and have dinner with us?"
At the end of the year, there were many people and things going on in the capital, and there was another assassination incident. Next, the Xiaoguo Army will defend the capital together with the city patrol troops from Weiwei Temple, the soldiers from the left and right Houwei, and the government officials from Henan Prefecture. Therefore, they, the military and aircraft ministers, are on call at any time, and their food and accommodation are at the Ministry of War office. However, this was also because of the assassination case that had just occurred. After the news passed, they would also implement a shift system.
Yang Ji shook his head and said, "Forget it, I'm afraid I'll bump into assassins while walking at night."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. Yu Wen Jingli laughed and said: "The whole city is heavily guarded at this time, and the Li family has learned from the past. Who dares to commit a crime against the wind?"
Yang Ji glanced at him and said: "You think no one dares to commit crimes, but in many battles I took advantage of the enemy general's laziness, and finally attacked the enemy unprepared by surprise, and won the final victory. Everyone It’s better to be careful so as not to fall into the trap.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Yang Ji gave a few more instructions. Seeing that it was dark outside and snowflakes were flying, he said goodbye to everyone without waiting for the dismissal bell to ring.
After leaving Shangshu Province, he boarded the carriage and drove towards Jingshanfang, where the palace was located.
The team of guards escorted the carriage into the square in front of the mansion. As soon as Yang Jigang got off the car in front of the steps, Yang Yi, the chief porter, rushed to greet him from the front platform. He clasped his fists and saluted: "Your Majesty, Hao Changshi and Wei Zhonglang are in the left meeting hall of the front hall. After waiting for a long time, he said that we have something important to discuss, so please go and discuss it first after you return home."
"I understand." Yang Ji thought for a moment, thinking that it couldn't be so fast, could it? With this in mind, I walked up the stone steps and entered the courtyard from the side door. At this time, the night was falling, the cold winter wind was blowing the palace lanterns under the eaves, and snowflakes kept falling.
Yang Ji walked along the cleared road in the courtyard towards the left hall of Xuanwu Hall. He thought that the middle door and the left door were tightly closed, while the right door was only half open. appearance. So as he walked, he asked Yang Yi who was closely following him: "Manager Yang, what happened in the house?"
"Everything is fine in the palace, please don't worry, Your Majesty!" Yang Yi said quickly: "The concubine said that the princess and the concubine are getting heavier and need to rest; she has also prayed for the princess and the concubine recently; she also said that Luoyang City is not peaceful yet, It is inconvenient for the palace to receive visitors."
Yang Ji felt relieved and asked casually, "Did the Li Yuan family send someone here?"
Yang Yi said: "Here we are, it's Mrs. Dugu who is here. But she, Li Jiancheng and Li Xiaogong saw that the house was closed to thank guests, so they had no choice but to go back."
"Go and do your work! Someone will inform the concubine. If I don't arrive after the meal time, let them eat first without waiting for me."
"Here!" Yang Yi responded and left.
After Yang Ji finished explaining, he walked towards the brightly lit meeting hall without looking back.
Hao Yuan and Wei Zheng were sitting in front of the tea table talking. When they saw Yang Ji entering, they quickly stood up to greet him: "Your Majesty!"
"Sit down and talk!" Yang Ji waved his hand and sat on the main seat.
When Hao Yuan saw Zhu Can closing the door and exiting, he sat in front of the tea table, poured a cup of tea for Yang Ji, and whispered: "Your Majesty, Li Yuan is dead. He died at Luzi Pass at the junction of Shuofang County and Yan'an County."
Yang Ji had some expectations, but after hearing the conclusive news, his hand that was about to pick up the teacup still stiffened. He looked at Hao Yuan and asked, "How did Li Yuan die?"
He sent someone to do this, but it was quite unexpected that it happened so quickly.
Shuofang County, where Li Yuan is located, is connected to Yan'an County in the south. Connecting the two counties is the Baiyu Mountain Range, which runs east and west. This mountain is narrow from east to west and particularly wide from north to south. It has high mountains and undulating ridges. , the north and south foothills are asymmetrical, and the southern foothills are more strongly cut than the northern foothills, so that cliffs are everywhere.
From the Northern Zhou Dynasty to the early Sui Dynasty, the Turkic Khanate was unprecedentedly powerful. Fortunately, the Baiyu Mountain blocked the communication between the north and the south. Otherwise, during the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the early Sui Dynasty, the Turkic army could send troops to loot the southern part of Yongzhou, including Guanzhong, at any time. But everything has two sides. Baiyu Mountain was originally a natural barrier that blocked the Turkic Iron Hoof from moving south. However, when the Sui army counterattacked the Turkic Khanate, it was not easy to pass through Baiyu Mountain to go north.
After Yang Jian defeated the Great Khan of the Turkic Khanate and knelt down to sue for peace, he ordered Luzi Pass to be built on Tumen Mountain in the Baiyu Mountains in order to facilitate future counterattacks. Tumen Mountain is narrow from north to south, with the east and west sides standing like gates. In the middle is the watershed of Xingzi River from north to south and Xilu River from south to the gate. The place where Luzi Pass is located is named Luzi because it is shaped like a gourd. close.
Later, with Luziguan as the center, official roads were built north and south along the two rivers.
Seeing the important strategic location of this place, Yang Ji simply asked Song Zhengben, the head of the Tianmen Yongzhou branch, to set up a branch in each county and set it up at the bird's message sending and receiving point. Among them, the head of the Shuofang branch was Yang Huo from the Sixteenth General. .
After concluding that the assassination was committed by Li Dou the day before yesterday, Yang Ji decided to teach the Li family, who had framed him, a painful lesson.
Writing a letter to the Yuan family and impeaching Li Yuan is only one aspect of revenge. The other aspect is to let Yang Huo choose the opportunity to kill Li Yuan. Of course it's not an assassination, but taking advantage of the time difference to create an accident.
And before Li Yuan received the news from the capital and the imperial messenger arrived at Shuofang, he basically had no sense of vigilance or precaution. If Yang Huo killed him silently in an unexpected way, then Li Yuan's accidental death would be an accident, and the result would not be the same. Too much noise.
This order from the flying eagle was sent early yesterday morning, and it had to be forwarded to Shuofang through Daxing, so Yang Ji thought it would take three to five days for the good news to be sent back, but he never expected to receive it now.
"Your Majesty, Li Yuan fell to death!" Hao Yuan gave an answer, and then introduced in detail: "Shuofang is a vast area with sparsely populated areas. Although there are three counties under its rule, the last time the imperial court checked household registrations, the total number of people in the county was The number of households is only 31,673; if you include the non-official Hu people, floating population, and the military, the total population of the county is less than 200,000, so Shuofang is a very complete lower county. These populations are distributed in Yanlu, Ningshuo and Changze counties, and are managed by their own county officials, and many people live a nomadic life, so county officials basically have nothing to do."
"And Li Yuan is a man who is famous for his good shooting. He loves hunting, and he doesn't have much official duties, so he takes his guards to hunt and hunt from time to time. Today he took a team of guards to the Luziguan area."
Yang Ji nodded silently. Although many carnivores hibernate in autumn and winter, tigers, as well as herbivores such as sika deer, bison, wild sheep, and hares do not hibernate. Moreover, everything dies in winter, and the view in the forest is excellent, and there is no There are venomous snakes and poisonous weeds, so autumn and winter are always good seasons for hunting. When it snows, if birds and animals are looking for food in the snow, people with good eyesight can tell what kind of animal it is at a glance. Considering Li Yuan's preference for hunting and having nothing to do, how could he not go hunting?
A sly smile appeared in Hao Yuan's eyes, and he added: "There are many ravines and mountain streams in the Luziguan area, but the trees beside the streams that were weighed down by heavy snow are covered with heavy snow again. At a glance, they look like flat ground. The hound's body is light and They were quick and fast, and they chased me along with the smell of my excrement and urine, so there was no problem, but the man on horseback couldn't do it, and he would sink once he stepped on it."
Yang Ji understood, he chuckled and said: "I understand, Li Yuan just thought that the snow-covered branches across the mountain stream were a large piece of flat land, so he stepped on it without warning, and then fell down like that?"
"That's right!" Hao Yuan nodded with a smile and continued: "He is not the only one, there are also more than ten followers."
"That's such a pity!" Yang Ji understood that this was a trap made by Yang Huo and others. The hounds smelled the animal feces and urine they dumped and chased them.
Li Yuan died in an "accident". Local officials knew that he liked hunting, and he died yesterday. As for the assassination of Yuanshou and his son the day before yesterday, the case that was only solved yesterday and the crime that was only convicted today, Shuofang officials including Li Yuan could not receive news from Luoyang, so everyone instinctively believed that it was an accident.
Afterwards, even if the imperial court or the Li family sent people to investigate, they would conclude that "Li Yuan died in an accident" because the people in Luziguan followed suit.
After thinking for a while, Yang Ji asked again: "What happened next? What was the reaction of Luziguan and local officials?"
"Later?" Hao Yuan paused and said, "There were 500 defenders at Luziguan. The defender received help from the Li family's entourage and led all the soldiers to search and rescue. The local officials had no other ideas; even Li Yuan The entourage also thought it was an accident."
Hundreds of people were searching and rescuing around the mountain stream, and the damage to the evidence was obvious. Yang Ji fell silent after hearing this.
