The imperial court's hostility and distrust towards the rebel generals was reasonable, and Liu Baichuan and Liu Dongyang knew it well, but if they were allowed to continue like this, they would never see hope, and I'm afraid their inner resentment and dissatisfaction would swell again.
No one can predict what will happen in the end. Even if they know that the outcome will not be good, who is willing to live in a life of hopelessness?
Was the rebellion really all the responsibility of a few of them? If it weren't for Shi Guangjue's willful behavior, and if it weren't for the deliberate harsh treatment of court officials including Yun Guang, how could the soldiers in Ningxia Town have fallen to this point and finally embarked on the road to rebellion?
"Bai Chuan, you came to Shazhou unexpectedly today, aren't you just here to reminisce about old times?" Finally, Liu Dongyang broke the silence and smiled to himself: "The commander-in-chief can safely let you go out, so you are not afraid that you and I will go there. Together, we are 'cooperating' and falling back on our cuteness?"
"Dong Yang, the new governor has been appointed." Liu Baichuan glanced at the three of them lightly, "And it is estimated that he has already set off on his way to Suzhou by this time."
"Oh?" Liu Dongyang's eyes lit up, "Who?"
Chen Jingxuan's performance is not much better than Shi Guangjue's.
It's not that Chen Jingxuan is more greedy and shady than Shi Guangjue, but that Chen Jingxuan, the governor of the three sides, is too unreliable, or he is used to the pampered life of the water transport commander, so he is suddenly asked to face Chengrili and Gobi. Chen Jingxuan was obviously not used to the frontier troops who dealt with the Mongolian tribes in the desert, and were the most miserable and poorest of the four northwest towns.
In the past two years, Chen Jingxuan, the governor of the three frontiers, has not been able to win the respect of the military generals, nor can he obtain better supplies and treatment for the frontier soldiers than before, and he has also made it impossible for Guyuan Town's troops to go south to quell the rebellion. It is said that in the end, Guyuan Town had to be abolished. The reason was that the Guyuan Town unit performed poorly in counterinsurgency in the southwest.
This is simply unbearable, not to mention going south to fight in the southwest where the climate is unfamiliar and difficult to adapt to. In the end, it was used as an excuse to annex the newly established Jingxiang Town. But it has been established as one of the nine important towns since the imperial dynasty. How could it end up in this situation?
In the eyes of the generals in the towns in the northwest, such a result was simply more hateful than Shi Guangjue.
"We are old acquaintances." Liu Baichuan glanced at Liu Dongyang.
Liu Dongyang thought for a moment, Chai Ke? It's impossible, he is the Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Civil Affairs; Yang He doesn't look like him, Liu Baichuan wouldn't have this attitude, and the generals in the northwest have a bad impression of Yang He.
Finally thinking of a certain person, Liu Dongyang felt a little unbelievable. Didn't it mean that the situation in Liaodong was unstable and he needed to take charge of Jianzhou Jurchen?
"Feng Tang?!" Liu Dongyang raised his eyebrows, "Really?"
"Is there still a lie?" After all, Liu Baichuan is based in Suzhou and is much better informed than Liu Dongyang and others who are isolated outside Jiayuguan Pass. "The imperial court seems to be very worried about us in the northwest. It would rather let Mr. Feng escape from Liaodong temporarily." We want him to stabilize the northwest, but I don’t know why Mr. Feng would accept such a hot job.”
Liu Baichuan also didn't understand, and there was a lot of complexity in his words.
The status of Governor Ji Liao is much higher than that of the Governor of the Three Sides, and the key is that he is more valued by the court. Military supplies, food and salaries are given priority, unlike here in the Three Sides and Four Towns, where the leftovers are always the last, and even Even leftovers may not be guaranteed.
After the Ningxia Rebellion, the situation improved slightly for two years. For the sake of recovering Shazhou and Hami, the imperial court barely guaranteed the food and salary for those two years. However, starting from the second half of last year, it returned to the previous normal. Chen Jingxuan had nothing to do about the situation, such as arrears or short supply of grain. This was also the point where the generals of the four towns were most dissatisfied with him.
If you cannot argue with the court, then you, the governor, will not be able to sit firmly. In addition, you are not familiar with the border troops and do not have enough prestige. Therefore, it is the wisest choice to resign and leave. Otherwise, you will end up with nothing but They fell back to mutiny and got out, and even ended up with their heads hanging on the top of the city and surrendering to the sergeants below.
Of course, this last possibility is unlikely. The Great Zhou Dynasty was not the end of the Tang Dynasty, and the generals in the army were not yet domineering to that extent.
After Chen Jingxuan resigned, the military generals in the three towns and four towns naturally had to guess who the imperial court would send to succeed him. It was hard for the civil servants to say, but there were only two or three choices among the military generals, but they all thought it was impossible to come. Unexpectedly, Feng Tang was chosen in the end. Here comes Zhileng.
Hearing that it was Feng Tang, Liu Dongyang, Xu Chao and Tu Wenxiu all had mixed feelings.
On the one hand, they also admit that Feng Tang should be the most suitable candidate, and he is probably the only one who can control the situation in the northwest. But from another perspective, Feng Tang's arrival will also completely extinguish some of their original ambitions.
It's not like Liu Dongyang and the others have never imagined that if things continue like this, one day the situation of three sides and four towns will explode again. At that time, it might not be an opportunity for their brothers.
But Feng Tang's arrival completely extinguished this illusion and hope.
The Feng family itself has an excellent reputation in Jiubian. Feng Tang also served as the commander-in-chief of Datong and Yulin. Especially the commander-in-chief of Yulin itself is one of the three sides and four towns. The current commander-in-chief of Yulin is Feng Tang's old confidant. There are also many Feng Tang's subordinates in the town, and the Feng family was originally from Wuxun, so Feng Tang can be regarded as the most suitable and powerful candidate for governor among the three sides and four towns.
This is probably the main reason why the imperial court would rather leave the vacancy in Liaodong and arrange for him to come over.
As soon as he arrived, Liu Dongyang knew very well that any changes would be impossible to hide from the other party. It would be impossible to convince Liu Baichuan and the others, including Xu Chao.
This news only briefly disturbed Liu Dongyang's mood, and Liu Dongyang returned to normal.
Because he also knows very well that if it were someone else, some of his ambitions may have hope, but the possibility of failure is much greater. No one wants to fail. If Feng Tang comes to the northwest, he can bring about some different changes. , may not be able to accept such a result.
"Bai Chuan, you said Mr. Feng is already on his way to the northwest?" Liu Dongyang dismounted, threw the reins to his subordinates who followed him, and said in a deep voice: "You came so fast?"
"Well, it's faster than we thought. I heard that the first batch of grain shipped from Huguang has been transported from Huguang to Xi'an and is on the way from Xi'an to Qingyang." Liu Baichuan knew what Liu Dongyang wanted to hear, "Master Feng There seemed to be some other ideas.”
"What do you mean?" Liu Dongyang's eyes were bright and he put his hands behind his back. Liu Baichuan also dismounted and walked alongside him, "Qingyang, why Qingyang?"
Liu Baichuan hesitated for a moment, then whispered: "I heard that Mr. Feng had already issued an order on the road, requiring each town to send the first two to three troops to Qingyang for centralized training in preparation for reduction and elimination. If If the training satisfies him, he will be retained, and those with insufficient combat effectiveness will be included in the elimination targets. This is the requirement of the imperial court."
"Deploy two or three departments for training first?" Liu Dongyang was slightly surprised: "Didn't you say that Guyuan Town will be abolished?"
The term "two to three corps" is vague. Each deputy general, staff general, and guerrilla leader has a different number of corps, ranging from 3,000 to 5,000. This means that 40,000 to 60,000 people must be mobilized from the four towns to gather them. Qingyang went through training, which was a big move.
"The news I got is that Mr. Feng does not agree with the imperial court's direct request to abolish Guyuan Town. After consulting with the Ministry of War, he believes that troops should be drawn from each town and department for rotation training, and the best ones should be prioritized for protection, and the worst ones should be eliminated. The Ministry of War seems to agree with his point of view,..." A strange look appeared on Liu Baichuan's face, "However, this round of training and assessment, the four towns have close to 400,000 troops. According to this scale, based on the calculation of three months for one round of training, there will be no two Can’t you finish it in a year?”
"Are you saying that this is Mr. Feng's plan to delay the war?" Liu Dongyang immediately understood the implication of Liu Baichuan's words and frowned, "But what's the point of Mr. Feng doing this? We still don't have to face elimination after two years?"
"I don't know about that." Liu Baichuan shook his head, "Perhaps Mr. Feng thinks that such a sudden decision on abolition will cause unnecessary turmoil? He is new here..."
Liu Dongyang snorted coldly, "Bai Chuan, others might worry about this, but do you think Mr. Feng would be afraid of this? He can't do it? Is the Yulin Army a vegetarian? Those losers in Guyuan Town should have been abolished. But the premise is to protect the treatment of our other towns..."
"Guyuan Town has only gotten worse in the past few years, and it can't be killed with one shot." Liu Baichuan disagreed. "This kind of judging victory or defeat based on martial arts performance after rotation training is acceptable to me. Are you still worried about your department?"
"Hmph, do you think I'll be worried?" Liu Dongyang curled his lips contemptuously, "I can't tell you about Yulin Town. He Shixian still has a few who can fight. Who am I afraid of in Ganning Town? Guyuan Town Who can fight over there?"
"Then what are you worried about?" Liu Baichuan asked.
"Bai Chuan, don't you think it's a little unusual for Mr. Feng to transport grain from Huguang, have to do rotation training, and start issuing orders while he's on the road?" Liu Dongyang is not as informed as Liu Baichuan because he is outside the customs. He is well-informed, but his sense of smell is more sensitive than Liu Baichuan's. "When I take office, I need to get familiar with it or appease everyone. Why do I make such a big move right from the beginning without even giving everyone an explanation? This feels a little bit no matter how I look at it." Something’s wrong.”
Liu Dongyang's words made Liu Baichuan also fall into deep thought, but they are all pure military generals. At least they can't feel anything in the land of the northwest. What makes them feel that they may be involved is the war in the southwest. After all, there is a war in Guyuan Town. It's over there, and it's making a fuss.
