Without further delay, after the generals quickly gathered in the commander's tent, Li Jinquan immediately stated that he wanted to send elite troops out of the city to attack the Tang army's camp.
The generals, who had been ordered to defend the city in recent days and saw the Tang army coming and going freely outside the city day and night, seemed to feel aggrieved. At this time, they were very enthusiastic after hearing this and asked Li Jinquan to fight.
When the crowd was excited, Li Jinquan didn't say anything, but he considered it over and over in his heart.
Now that the enemy and we are in a stalemate, it is obviously unrealistic to send troops to attack the Tang army in one fell swoop. The only goal is to burn the trebuchets and timber. But how could the current commanders of the Tang army, Li Yuan and Liu Renzhan, not guess their opponents? What's on your mind? The famous general of the Tang Dynasty would not even neglect the defense of the camp! Even if you try your best and get into the camp by luck, no matter whether you can achieve your goal or not, your own casualties will inevitably be inevitable, and you may even be gone without return.
But this does not mean that Li Jinquan is opposed to sending troops. Ming Hanrong's words are indeed to the point. Now the people in the army are panicking. If the Tang army really waits for hundreds of trebuchets to be deployed under the city, let alone whether Shouzhou City can withstand it. , I am afraid that even the soldiers guarding the city will be frightened and lose their fighting spirit. Therefore, it was imperative to send troops out of the city, but how to deploy troops and generals became the primary problem.
It goes without saying that the selection of capable troops and horses was natural, but what Li Jinquan considered was the impact of the loss of these troops and horses. In his eyes, this move was equivalent to a sheep entering a tiger's mouth.
Now in Shouzhou City, in addition to the new recruits recruited recently, there are no more than three armies, Li Jinquan's Holy Guard Army on the right, Li Song's Baoxin Army, and Wang Shilin's Guangzhou Army. On the right side of the Holy Guard Army, these soldiers are almost all Northerners who came from the Central Plains with Li Jinquan, and they are also the trump cards he relies on to survive. If one person is killed or injured, there will be one less person, and the strength will be weakened accordingly. How can Li Jinquan be willing to let them go and die? ?
Moreover, Li Jinquan has always been worried about Li Song and Wang Shilin. Although these two people have vowed to follow them, the rebellion is unpredictable, and no one can tell whether they have hidden dissent. If one's direct troops are damaged, who can guarantee that they will not take the opportunity to cause a mutiny in Shouzhou City?
After repeated weighing, Li Jinquan finally ordered that Li Song personally lead 8,000 Baoxin troops to leave the city at dusk and attack the Tang camp, burning the Tang army's trebuchets and a piece of wood at all costs.
This decision was carefully considered. Li Song was a general who surrendered to the Northern Kingdom, and most of the Baoxin Army under his command were from the North. In terms of combat effectiveness, they were not inferior to Li Jinquan's Wei Sheng Army, and this exactly triggered Li Jinquan's Fear, so it is most appropriate to send the Baoxin Army there. They can perfectly undertake the combat mission, and it will not be a pity even if there are casualties.
As for Wang Shilin's Guangzhou soldiers, in Li Jinquan's eyes, they were just a ragtag group of southerners. They are still acting as cannon fodder, but they are afraid that this cannon fodder is not up to standard.
"The last general takes orders! He will live up to the commander's expectations!"
Under the eager eyes of everyone in the tent, Li Song, the governor of Luzhou, who was sitting at the top on the right side, did not hesitate, but immediately stood up and handed over his hands, accepting this dangerous military order.
...
In the evening, the flaming sunset glow on the horizon turned the huge Shouzhou City into a blushing color.
At this time, the south gate had been opened, and the suspension bridge was slowly lowered. Li Song, with complex thoughts in his mind, rode out on a brown and red horse, and filed out together with the eight thousand security guards behind him.
Although these soldiers who used to guard the important town in Huaixi had rebelled against the Southern Tang Dynasty, they still wore the standard armor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, and the battle flag they used was still the Baoxin military flag, not the weird sun, moon and star pattern. The meaning here has to be Food for thought.
Although they were both surrendered generals from the Central Plains and were feared by Emperor Li Jing, the experiences of Li Song and Li Jinquan were quite different.
Li Jinquan was a successful young man and was the adopted son of Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of the later Tang Dynasty. Before he defected to the Southern Tang Dynasty, he had already served as a military envoy in the Jin Dynasty. The reason for the descent to the Tang Dynasty from the south is very absurd.
You must know that Li Jinquan was born in the Tuyuhun tribe. Although he was brave and good at fighting, he knew nothing about the political orders of the Central Plains. When he was the governor of the Anyuan Army in the Jin State, he handed over all local government affairs to his confidant Ming Hanrong.
However, Ming Hanrong was greedy for money. With great power in his hands, it was natural for him to plunder the people and accept bribes. In the blink of an eye, he became extremely rich, which made the people of Anzhou, Li Jinquan's government, miserable.
Soon, word of Ming Hanrong's deeds reached Kaifeng. Jin Emperor Shi Jingtang tolerated it and personally selected an honest and self-disciplined official, Jia Renmao, to replace him. Afterwards, Li Jinquan's adviser Pang Lingtu also gave a speech, saying that Jia Renmao was honest and dedicated to the public affairs and had good abilities, much better than Ming Hanrong.
After Ming Hanrong, who had always been jealous, received the news, he immediately sent a killer to sneak into Pang Lingtu's house that night to kill all his family members. At the same time, he sent someone to poison Jia Renmao, causing Jia Renmao's tongue to rot and die. It was natural to blame the bandits.
But there is no airtight wall in the world. Soon Jia Renzhao's two sons fled to the capital to complain. The angry Shi Jingtang decisively ordered General Ma Quanjie to lead his army to Anzhou to prosecute and replace Li Jinquan. Ming Hanrong, who had a ulterior motive in his heart, was horrified when he heard this, so just like he had persuaded Li Jinquan to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, he finally succeeded in persuading Li Jinquan to rebel against the Jin State, and gathered all the soldiers to go south and surrender to the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Although the Southern Tang Dynasty gave Li Jinquan a series of titles to defend the Holy Tongjun Army and the Zhongwu Army Jiedu Envoy, it did not give him actual power. He and his soldiers were firmly controlled in Shouzhou on the border, and even 30,000 Qing soldiers were controlled. The Huai army was placed beside him. This thorn in the back made Li Jinquan deeply resentful.
On the contrary, unlike Li Jinquan who was "forced" to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, Li Song took the initiative to lead his army southward when the Khitan destroyed the Jin Dynasty and the Central Plains became ownerless. Most of the northerners under his command were fierce men who had fought with the Khitan.
He also surrendered with his troops and horses, but Li Song was very humble when he met the Holy Spirit in Jinling, and even took the initiative to express his willingness to hand over military power. This made Li Jing very fond of him. After thinking about it again and again, he finally decided to make Li Song the governor of Luzhou. He organized his troops into the Baoxin Army in Huaixi and remained under his command.
Luzhou has special significance in the Southern Tang Dynasty. In addition to being the seat of the Southern Tang Baoxin Army, it is also the place where Yang Xingmi, the Taizu of Yang Wu, made his fortune.
After all, the power of the Southern Tang Dynasty was obtained by Yang Wu's "concession", so Li Ming, the great ancestor, left the title of Baoxin Army Jiedu Envoy to the descendants of the Yang family and allowed them to worship in the ancestral temple in Luzhou. But at the same time, another general was sent to serve as the governor of Luzhou to firmly control the military power of the Baoxin Army and prevent Yang Wu's descendants from having any dissent.
This directly led to the fact that the two people in the positions of Baoxin Army Jiedushi and Luzhou Governor must be incompatible.
Unfortunately, after Li Song took office, he happened to meet the most domineering generation of the Yang family, now Yang Weiyue, the governor of the Baoxin Army.
After Li Jing succeeded to the throne, the situation of the descendants of Yang and Wu was obviously much better. Yang Weiyue not only had close contacts with officials in the court, but also married the younger sister of the Queen Zhong. As his power increased, his desires naturally increased. How could he Are you satisfied with the empty title on your head?
But after all, Yang Weiyue was from the previous royal family. If he dared to ask for military power from Emperor Li Jing, it would be almost the same as asking for death. He was not bold enough yet, so he set his sights on the newly appointed Li Song.
Yang Weiyue originally thought that Li Song was in a difficult situation as a surrendered general and would be easy to win over. Unexpectedly, Li Song was not stupid. He knew in his heart that he must not get involved in this matter, so he often evaded his words, perfunctory, and always performed his duties honestly.
For six months, Yang Weiyue tried every possible means to no avail, and finally became angry and started to make things difficult for him at every turn. Finally, during a banquet, one of Yang Weiyue's confidants accidentally pushed Li Song's five-year-old son into the lake and drowned because he was "drunk". The murderer suddenly disappeared the next day.
After losing his beloved son, Li Song was extremely grief-stricken and angry. After many visits to argue with Yang Weiyue to no avail, he had to go to Shujinling one after another to request the court for a thorough investigation. When the ministers in the court learned that the matter was related to Yang Weiyue, they all evaded, and no one was willing to speak for the surrendered general.
Some people even withheld the memorial and falsely accused the emperor Li Jing, saying that the surrendered general Li Song led his troops to force the Jiedu envoy Yang Weiyue's residence to harm the local area and must be rebellious.
Li Jing, however, was preoccupied with conquests in the north and south, and had no time to pay attention. He actually listened to the courtiers' request and issued an order to severely punish Li Song. Not only did he deprive him of his military power, but he also sent his family to Jinling for questioning, and ordered Li Song to be punished. He was asked to immediately compensate for the damage to Yang Weiyue's house and come to apologize in person.
After receiving the imperial edict from Jinling, Li Song's last vestige of belief in loyalty to the court completely collapsed, and the northerners in the Baoxin Army also felt resentful after hearing this. At this time, Li Jinquan rebelled and sent an invitation to himself. Li Song, who was already known as a rebel, was completely disheartened. He immediately summoned his old troops to respond. That night, he stormed into Yang Weiyue's mansion and beheaded him to death.
After arriving in Shouzhou, Li Song quickly noticed Li Jinquan's tyranny, capriciousness, and suspicion, as well as the greed and jealousy of his confidant Ming Hanrong. He was deeply disappointed, and the two gradually became inseparable.
In recent days, the Tang army has been violently attacking the city. Li Jinquan deliberately placed almost all of Li Song's security forces at the most dangerous line of the east gate. They were used as cannon fodder just like the Qing Huai army before. In just a few days, they quickly changed from the moment they entered the city. The more than 10,000 troops were reduced sharply to 8,000.
This time he was ordered to lead his troops out of the city to attack the Tang camp. Li Song had already realized that in addition to the powerful Baoxin Army, Li Jinquan was just jealous and continued to weaken his own strength in disguise. At the same time, he was sure that the Baoxin Army and the northerners would not Hui surrendered to the Southern Tang Dynasty.
That being the case, where should we go from here?
Li Song naturally has his own thoughts. At this time, he had issued an order. After leaving the south gate, the entire army accelerated their pace and entered the dense forest where the Tang Army's coach Li Yuan appeared that day. Since the battle in the south of Shouzhou City, the soldiers in the city have long known that there is a road leading to Bagong Mountain hidden in the dense forest.
But the so-called road is not just one direction?
