The situation in Qingzhou spread to Yuanzhou in an instant. Liu Zaisheng sent people on flying horses to report to Zhang Zhao and quickly started mobilizing in Yuanzhou.
Since he needed to cross Liupan Mountain, he didn't have much time.
However, Yuanzhou only has one battalion from Yucheng Town and one battalion from Yingyang Town. Even if these two thousand soldiers and horses are sent to Qingzhou, it will be difficult to stop the cavalry of the Dingnan Army.
If the Li family of the disaster-stricken army responded quickly and could quickly mobilize the army to go south from Xiazhou.
The emergency situation did not give Liu Zaisheng much chance to think, so he could only issue an urgent recruitment order.
Recruit all the Dangxiang herdsmen in Yuanzhou, and even if they are just dragging them, they must drag them until the army arrives.
Fortunately, over the past year or so, Hexi Longyou has continuously repaired and widened official roads and built inns, which have played a very good role.
Liu Zaisheng sent more than a dozen groups of messengers. They ran more than a hundred miles in one day and killed several horses. It took less than ten days to convey the news to Liangzhou.
Zhang Zhao did not dare to neglect after receiving Liu Zaisheng's report. However, after convening the generals for discussion, Zhang Zhao decided not to directly rescue Qingzhou, but to send troops to Yanzhou.
At Lanyue Palace in Liangzhou, Ma Yaozi pointed at the map and was explaining it to the generals.
"If we go to Qingzhou, the fastest way is to Ningzhou, and then go north along the Malingshui River. This is a full 1,500 miles away from Liangzhou.
Not to mention whether we can arrive in time, Weizhou and Jingzhou that we have to pass on the road are all in the hands of the imperial court.
The imperial court has just rebuilt the Changyi Army and the Jingnan Army this year. We don’t know yet whether they will let us pass.
Even if it is done, it is not worthwhile to try to make the imperial court jealous, it is just to scare the snake. "
As he said that, Ma Yaozi pointed to the location of Yanzhou, "If we don't go directly to Qingzhou, but go directly from Huizhou to Yanzhou, even if we go from Liangzhou, it will only be less than a thousand miles.
This Yanzhou has the salt water of Huamachi. Most of the salt supply of the Dingnan Army depends on it. For the Dingnan Army, the ten Qingzhous are not as important as Yanzhou. Let's simply attack Yanzhou and force the Dingnan Army. Return support. "
Bang bang bang! Zhang Zhao clapped his hands in appreciation. Ma Yaozi has now fully grown up.
He is no longer the old soldier with a loose mouth who curses without repetition, but has become a general who can truly lead an army.
"You kid has been studying behind my back, haven't you? You already know that you are besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao." As he spoke, Zhang Zhao looked at the generals in the room.
"Don't just look at it, you all have your say. What do you think? I'm still very optimistic about Ma Yaozi's plan."
"I'm afraid that Yanzhou's defense envoys have defected to the trouble-making army. It won't be easy for the army to pass!" Everyone agreed. Only the mountain pig Luo Shande touched his chin and said.
"This is easy to do. Let's pretend to be Lieutenant Zhang's tooth general from Lingzhou and go to Yanzhou on business, trick the Yanzhou defense envoy out, kill him with one blow, and simply occupy Yanzhou!"
As a radical in the Guiyi Army, Zhebu Jiashi, who had little respect for the Central Plains imperial court, stood up and said to Zhang Zhao.
Everyone looked at Zhang Zhao, and they all knew that Zhang Zhao had always been cautious in dealing with the court.
In fact, many people are still in favor of directly responding to An Chongrong this time, but Zhang Zhao knows that An Chongrong really can't make it happen. The 20,000 troops have not been able to last for a month, and there will be better opportunities in the future.
However, that was out of concern to fight against the entire Central Plains alone and that the Silk Road would be cut off by the later Jin Dynasty.
This Yanzhou is not so sensitive. Anyway, it can be used to cover up the conflict between the troubled troops.
Moreover, in Shi Jingtang's eyes, Li Yiyin, like Zhang Zhao, was an unstable element, and he probably wanted him to fight both sides.
"Qiongre Duojin, get ready. When the army passes through the Feng'an Army, you will take people to Yanzhou with three hundred cavalry. Tell Captain Zhang of Lingzhou that he has arrived, and ask the defense envoy to prepare troops and horses to greet him. Wait. Get out of the city and kill him!"
Although Qiongre Duojin's force value is slightly lower than that of Barbarian Bear and others, he is more alert and his brain is much easier to use. It shouldn't be a big problem to ambush three hundred cavalry and suddenly intercept and kill the Yanzhou defense envoy.
"Every general will go down, mobilize the elite, and mobilize well. We will dispatch at least 15,000 people this time."
Zhang Zhao has never regarded the Li family of the disaster army as a soft persimmon, although they are still completely unable to compare with Xixia in history.
However, after the torment of the later Tang Dynasty, the strength of the Difficult Army, mainly the centripetal force of the Party members, was greatly improved.
For Zhang Zhao, who had just acquired Hexi Longyou, he was not an easy opponent to deal with.
. . . .
The Macheng River seemed a little quiet in the early morning. Some early-rising waterbirds would fly across the river from time to time, occasionally catching a small fish and making ripples on the calm river surface.
Just as more waterfowl were about to start catching fish, the noisy sound of horse hooves came from the river.
After a while, two messengers with red pennants on their backs and dressed in blue and black uniforms drove their horses across the Macheng River from the shallowest point, scaring many waterfowl and flying away.
On the left bank of the Macheng River is a medium-sized village. This village was only built last year. Most of the people in the village moved from the Liugu tribe in the south of Liangzhou.
With the help of the government, they built houses with rammed earth walls more than one meter high, and the Macheng River water was diverted by several built canals.
The fields around the village are filled with golden spring wheat and corn that are about to be harvested, creating a peaceful and prosperous scene.
At the head of the village, an old man wearing a white linen jacket was drinking porridge. As soon as he saw the messenger with the red flag on his back coming, he immediately took off the small gong that he had been carrying with him from his waist, then got on his horse, and while Start knocking while running.
"Your Majesty is calling for troops! The troops from each household must gather at the head of the village immediately. The united archers and Yi Cong Xiaoqi also come quickly!"
With the clang of the gong and the roar of the old man, the village, where thirty or forty families live together, suddenly became noisy.
Men with hunches on their backs and guns kept running out of the small house like bees.
"Fuck you! If you don't put on your armor quickly, the three-way drum won't be able to do it, and the herald will break your legs!"
In a house in the middle of the village, a middle-aged man who had basically put on leather armor cursed angrily at a young man who was still hurriedly putting on leather armor.
The middle-aged man's old wife hurriedly ran up to help her son put on his armor. According to military regulations, even if the soldiers returned to their hometowns, as long as they heard the three-way drum (gong) at home and could not gather with their armor on, they would all receive ten military sticks.
At the east end of the village, next to several huge stone mills, five town troops, about twenty unity archers, and seven Yi Cong Xiaoqi on horseback all arrived in the three-way drum.
According to the system of the Guiyi Army at this time, the five town armies plus Hanshandu, except those who took turns to guard Liangzhou and were stationed in the cities of various states according to the rules, all implemented the system of one stay and two go.
That is to say, among a thousand people in a battalion, only one lives in the military camp for training, and the other two return to their hometowns on vacation. The training is supervised by the village elders, and they rotate one month at a time.
There is no way around this. There are about two million people in Longyou, Hexi Province, and they have to control a total of 18 prefectures plus the newly established Zhongzhou, a total of 19 prefectures.
It is more difficult to maintain a standing army of about 10,000 people on weekdays. The remaining more than 10,000 people must be put back and use this method of taking turns to take vacations to ensure combat effectiveness.
The United Archers and Yicong Xiaoqi are the grassroots militia. They also have one drill every ten days and one drill every month. During slack periods, they also organize joint drills at the county level.
As for why there are so many archers? Some are cavalry? This is not divided according to ethnicity, but horses are also a very important property of a family at this time.
Those who have horses can become cavalry, and those who are poor and have no horses can only become united archers.
As soon as Da Lang of the Zhang family appeared, the united archers and Yi Cong Xiaoqi at the head of the village quickly made way for him.
No one else, because Da Lang of the Zhang family is not only the suppressing army, but also the fire mate with iron armor in the suppressing army.
Among the Guiyi Army, cotton armor basically belonged to the public, and only a few people, such as Li Yanli, a party member in Gyeongju, and great heroes, could occasionally be rewarded with cotton armor.
The rest will be distributed after they are assembled and ready to go to the battlefield.
Because it is troublesome to adjust the size of armor, some are given to soldiers or given to soldiers in exchange for military exploits.
After all, everyone's body shape is different, and it doesn't mean that just getting a collar of armor will suit you perfectly.
However, the Yiguiyi Army currently only has more than 3,000 sets of Zhajia in stock. Although there are many in the army who can receive Zhajia as gifts, there are fewer of them if they are scattered everywhere.
A set of armor is a symbol of power and force. When you return to the village, you are a famous person famous far and wide.
Whoever is eating at the banquet must be seated first and sit at the head of the table. If there is any matter in the village, the village elders will also come to invite people to discuss it.
Even the two heralds from the county had to quickly salute after seeing the red rope iron armor worn by the Zhang family's elder brother.
"This brother is very polite. We are sent by the young master of Minqin County to deliver the King's decree to Baima Village."
Shaofu is the elegant name for the county lieutenant. Xiabaima Village is under the jurisdiction of Minqin County. Therefore, the United Archers and Yicong Xiaoqi in Xiabaima Village are both under the management of the Minqin County lieutenant.
But the county captain couldn't control the elite officers of the town army like Dalang Zhang, so when he and the six town soldiers heard the county captain's dispatch, they just nodded and showed a little respect.
However, after hearing the word "The King's Order", the six of them immediately raised their hands in unison, and then suddenly half-knelt towards the direction of Liangzhou City.
"Your Majesty issued an order: The Xiazhou Dingnan Army has defrauded me of a thousand pounds of fine iron, and killed one of my envoys. It is very rampant, and it is very serious!
We hereby order all towns to mobilize troops and horses. Those who receive the order must gather in Liangzhou within three days. Those who fail to do so will be subject to military law! "
"What a arrogant thief, how dare you steal a thousand catties of fine iron from me, I will be ordered back to camp immediately!"
After hearing the words of the messenger, the Zhang Family Dalang and others immediately exploded, screaming to make the party members of the Dingnan Army look good.
This is why Zhang Zhao wanted to create trouble and then mobilize his troops.
Because these soldiers are in the countryside, raising their babies and holding their aunts in their arms. The autumn harvest is about to begin. Who has the patience to go out and work hard?
If you don't give them a reason and let them think it's time to fight, just randomly mobilize them. I'm afraid that except for the most elite soldiers, others will dare to fight for you on the battlefield.
If you want to fight, you have to first decide who is right and who is wrong, to stir up anger and hatred of the same enemy.
"Brother Zhang, in addition to gathering all the town troops, the king also asked to bring some unity archers and Yi Cong Xiaoqi. The county captain knows that my brother is quite prestigious in the village, so he asked for help in selecting three or five people."
After the messenger finished passing the order, he said with a bit of flattery, "The county captain lives in the county town. There must be no Zhang family elders like him in the village. Who knows who can and who cannot fight?"
Therefore, local people like Da Lang of the Zhang family are often asked to help select some brave men who are not afraid of killing people on the battlefield.
As soon as he heard that he could follow the army to kill people and perform meritorious deeds, more than twenty rural soldiers came over.
Even if Liangzhou's life has become much better after Zhang Zhao came, it is just to survive. To improve his status and life, he still has to rely on fighting to obtain it.
The example of these united archers and Yi Congxiao cavalry is the Zhang family Dalang who wears iron armor.
The elder of the Zhang family went to Guanzhong and earned back a set of iron armor, a reward of fifteen guan, half a piece of brocade silk, ten pieces of cotton, a war horse, a donkey, and a monthly salary of 200 yuan. , it can also be doubled five times when on duty.
For Xiabaima Village, this is a fairy-like day.
"Back off! Back off! Stop making noise, I know who to take!"
The eldest son of the Zhang family drove away the village soldiers who came around, and then ordered the erlang of the Zhao family, who was an expert in equestrian skills, the younger brother of the Ma Bo family, and the brothers of the Li family and the Wen family who were good at shooting.
The ones that were ordered went back to prepare happily, while the ones that were not ordered immediately withered.
As for the autumn harvest, what should we do if all the men are gone? Then we need the village elders to mobilize the villagers to help each other.
If the war is delayed and they still cannot return from spring plowing, the government will provide oxen and the officials and errands will work in the fields together.
