Now allowing himself to take over as the prefect of Ningxia is almost putting his political achievements in front of him. I don't even have to worry too much about the next step, as long as Xiao Gui and Cao Sui follow Zhang Qian's original ideas. After the three-year term is over, Liu Chang will not be happy when he returns to Beijing. Although he will not be promoted like Zhang Qian, he will at least be a third-grade man who cannot escape.
In the past three years of his overseas career, as a disciple of the prince, he had the full support of the former prince and the current emperor, and there was also that Shangguan who dared to cause trouble for him. After three years in Jiazhou, I can do things boldly and freely. It's much more fulfilling than working as a freelancer in Xijing. Liu Chang is not the kind of person who only thinks about promotion, but just wants to do something real.
So when I heard that I was selected by Huang Qiong as the new prefect of Ningxia. In addition, Liu Chang is not very well-educated and has been on the bench for many years, so he is not very good at hiding his emotions. He also knew that this errand fell on him, which was a precursor to the emperor's important use of him. I couldn't help but feel joy in my heart, and I was even more grateful for Huang Qiong's repeated use.
Even hearing the request that no family members were allowed to take office except for two concubines did not dampen Liu Chang's excitement. In his opinion, it is just a term. Anyway, I have been away from home for three years, not less than the past three years now. Now that the emperor thinks highly of himself, people rush to take care of everything at home. As for the house in Beijing, at least only officials of the third rank can live there.
The servants and servants at home are even somewhat more than enough. The eldest son was also chosen by the emperor to study in Zongxue, which was a great gift. Even if Madam is at home, she doesn't have to worry about too many things. What else can she not be satisfied with? While I am still young and can still work hard, I will use my time in office to repay the emperor for his promotion and care for me.
Huang Qiong couldn't help but sigh in her heart when she saw Liu Chang, who had been promised that he could take office in Ningxia Mansion at any time, with an excited look on his face. The honest person at the beginning, after tasting the satisfaction brought by power, actually became a little afraid to recognize him. With Liu Chang's personality and his own supervision, Huang Qiong knew that he couldn't do something that was corrupt and perverting the law.
But as a prefecture and county seal official, the sense of power that comes from being a Bailihou, holding the life and death of the people of a county, a state, and a government in your hands cannot be replaced by anything else. Even though he knew this was human nature, Huang Qiong, who still felt uncomfortable, said: "These days, you can spend time with your wife and children at home. Before you take office, just hand over the sign and come to the palace to see me."
In fact, Huang Qiong also knew that Liu Chang could not blame him for this situation. After all, taking over as the prefect of Ningxia at this time is basically equivalent to gaining political achievements. As long as nothing big goes wrong, it's almost like a bright road is in front of him. Moreover, ever since he completed the suppression of the Longyou rebellion and the aftermath, he has been personally monitoring the recovery of the Ningxia Mansion.
Today's Ningxia Mansion, under Zhang Qian's governance, has basically completed reconstruction. A large number of refugees moved in, and they guarded the Hetao Plain, which was full of dangers in the Yellow River. Zhang Qian worked hard for three years. A large number of canals that had been abandoned in the late Tang Dynasty have all begun to be restored, and a large number of new canals have been dug. Today's Hetao Plain has become a fortress in the south of the Yangtze River.
Now that Ningxia Mansion has recovered, it is basically in the closing stage. With such a brilliant political achievement in front of him, as long as he follows the steps and serves the full term, his future will be infinitely bright. Let alone Liu Chang, who has been sitting on the bench in Xijing for many years, anyone else would probably be excited. Although this is human nature, Huang Qiong still feels a little uncomfortable for some reason.
After Liu Chang left, he looked at his back. Thinking of Zhang Qiaoer's sad look when he knew that he was going to release Liu Chang again, he couldn't help but feel a wave of heartache in his heart. It's just that Liu Chang did very well in Jiazhou, even exceeding his prediction when he released him. And now it seems that Liu Chang is actually very suitable for working abroad, and I believe that he will do well in Ningxia.
While I felt sorry for Zhang Qiaoer struggling to survive alone in Beijing, I felt the changes in Liu Chang from the inside out after his talents were put to use. How should I put it, Liu Chang now has strong self-confidence from the outside to the inside. Huang Qiong knocked on the imperial case in front of him and picked up the book again to read. But he could only lament helplessly in his heart that he could only feel sorry for Zhang Qiaoer once more now.
Thinking of Zhang Qiaoer's vivid and lively character, Huang Qiong couldn't help but feel hot in her heart. Liu Chang has been back for almost ten days, and he is embarrassed to summon Zhang Qiaoer into the palace at this time. Unlike in the past, every now and then, the beautiful woman would be summoned to the palace for a private meeting to compare. It had been more than ten days since Huang Qiong had touched Zhang Qiaoer's body, which made Huang Qiong feel upset.
In fact, today's Huang Qiong, even though she feels sorry for Zhang Qiao'er, doesn't have much energy to focus on her lover. Huang Qiong discovered that Cao Rui, who now controls the battle in Jiangnan, has always had a strong view of the overall situation. Before Huang Qiong's secret order to discuss the transfer of troops arrived, he took the initiative to propose that the cavalry, which had no much use in the Jiangnan battlefield, should be rested for a period of time and then transferred northward.
On this secret, Cao Rui analyzed the battle situation thoroughly. After Ouyang Shan went south, the rebels who had been attacking Nan'an Prefecture for a long time could only quickly retreat to Meiguan Pass to defend. At the same time, they guarded the passes of Nanling to prevent the officers and soldiers from going south. Next, fighting on the east and west roads of Guangnan, the cavalry was of little use. And as the weather gets hotter, these war horses from the north cannot withstand the scorching weather.
War horses that are used to eating grain grass from the north are obviously not used to straw from the south. Nowadays, nearly 50% of the cavalry and horses heading south have died or have to stay behind for treatment due to illness. Now, during the battle against the rebels, the army captured a large number of Dali horses that are better adapted to the hot climate in the south and are better at walking on mountain roads. The continued presence of these cavalry in the south would only increase the number of horse deaths.
After the siege of Nan'an Prefecture, in addition to leaving five thousand cavalry as a mobile force, they were equipped with Dali horses captured from the rebels, achieving one man and two horses. He has ordered the rest of the cavalry to begin to withdraw to Jiangning Mansion. Always obey the emperor's imperial edict and be transferred to fight in the north. He himself has already led a large army and stationed himself between Nan'an and Ganzhou, resting and recuperating while scouting and riding out.
In order to detect the movements of the rebels on Guangnan West Road and prepare for the next step. Cao Rui did not make many demands in the memorial. I just hope that the imperial court can keep the captured elephants for itself, and at the same time replenish a batch of artillery for itself, and keep some of the rebel heavy artillery for itself. The iron-bodied, copper-core cannons sent to the army by the imperial court were indeed light, but they were extremely easy to explode.
In the hard battle before, those iron cannons exploded a number of times. Now the officers and soldiers have sufficient quantities of artillery shells and ammunition, but there is not enough iron cannon. The terrain of Guangnan West Road is complex and mainly mountainous. Although the rebel heavy artillery is well-cast, it is too heavy. There is no problem in using it for siege, but it can be used as a field battle, but it is too bulky. And the cannonballs used are only solid cannonballs.
The rebels lacked the ammunition to deal with the infantry. The next step is to fight on Guangnan West Road. These lightweight iron-bodied copper-core cannons are quite suitable. So he hoped that the imperial court could replenish a batch for himself. As for the several thousand kilograms of bronze cannons captured by the rebels, the reason why he wanted to keep a batch was to prepare for future use in siege. I thought I would keep the elephant just to carry these heavy cannons. ,
At the end of the memorial, Cao Rui was full of praise for the Tianzhu horses and Jurchen horses captured from the rebels. Tianzhu horses, in particular, have excellent load-bearing and sprinting abilities, are also good at long-distance running, and can adapt to the hot weather in the south. They are much better than the party horses and Khitan horses used in the army today. The same goes for Jurchen horses, whose load-bearing capacity far exceeds those of the two horses.
When the party horse is used by heavy cavalry, it will basically be exhausted in one sprint. But the Jurchen horse can charge multiple times. Although its sprinting ability is not as good as that of party horses and its endurance is not as good as that of Khitan horses, it can carry loads extremely well and is more suitable for use as heavy cavalry. It's just that these two types of horses are only used in limited numbers among the rebels. Jurchen horses are not very adaptable to the southern climate, so there are not many of them.
Tianzhu horses are too expensive. They are ridiculously more expensive than Dali horses, which are so-called high-quality and low-priced but not suitable for cavalry. Therefore, even the rebel king, who has always been known as the richest in the world, is reluctant to spend a lot of money and purchase too much quantity. Even among the rebels, only the rebel king's personal guards and senior officials were qualified to ride. The cavalry still used Dali horses.
Therefore, the total number of captured horses was only a few hundred horses. In the memorial, Cao Rui lamented that these, which can be said to be the most sophisticated war horses, can only be distributed to those who cannot go to the battlefield for use, and lamented that some pearls were cast in secret. However, it was clearly stated in the memorial that the captured Tianzhu horses and Jurchen horses had been escorted to Beijing, and it was hoped that the imperial court could breed these two war horses on a large scale and distribute them to the army.
Looking at Cao Rui's memorial, Huang Qiong was filled with admiration. I was very relieved to have approved three of them directly on the fold. Regarding Cao Rui's request, Huang Qiong directly approved it. However, Huang Qiong once again told Cao Rui that after entering Guangnan West Road, he must pay attention to the direction of Dali Kingdom. If Ouyang is good, he thinks he needs to stay on the southern front, or he can stay on the southern front and continue under his command.
As for the Fujian direction, he has given it to Yang Jiyuan. In his next battle, he only needs to focus on the Guangnan East and West Road, and the focus is on the Guangnan West Road. As for the matter of war horse breeding, he had to believe that the imperial court would consider and handle it appropriately. At the end of this secret message, Huang Qiong wrote the words "Eradicate all evil and do your best." After ordering someone to make a secret of his own, he sent it out in a hurry for eight hundred miles.
Huang Qiong pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly, looked at the sky, and then took out Yu Mingyuan's folding book and started reading. A few months have passed, and Yu Mingyuan is still in a stalemate. However, Beiliao's offensive has obviously begun to weaken significantly due to casualties in recent days. Most of them are on the front line of the Great Wall, constantly looking for new breakthroughs. Moreover, the Liao army on the front line also suffered from supply shortages.
This kind of long-term tug-of-war is indeed an unbearable burden for Beiliao, who has almost no established supply habits and has always relied on one-stop supplies when going south. In the short term, it is still a reluctant effort, but over time it is difficult to sustain. Although the troops were at a disadvantage, Yu Mingyuan relied on the favorable terrain and the tight defense of the Great Wall, with almost no loopholes.
Although the Liao army broke through the Jizhou front line many times, Yu Mingyuan immediately organized troops to take them back. Even at the beginning of this month, they launched a beautiful counterattack in the Jizhou area, which is now the key breakthrough point of the Northern Liao Dynasty. After annihilating Jizhou, they immediately began to enter quickly, trying to outflank the Yanshan Prefecture from the direction of Jizhou. . More than 6,000 of Bei Liao's superior war horses alone were captured.
