The standing army of the Yangzhou Prefecture of the Eastern Capital consisted of 3,000 Long Jie's troops from the Imperial Army of the Southern Tang Dynasty, including 2,500 regular soldiers and about 500 other officers, personal attendants of officers, and cooks.
This organization was quite abnormal in Southern Tang Dynasty.
Because in the Southern Tang Dynasty, the imperial army usually had a capital of 100 people, five capitals as camps, five camps as armies, and ten armies as chambers. Each chamber should have 25,000 people. The highest officer of the chamber was the commander of the capital, divided into chief and deputy officers. , there is a numbered army above the carriage, and each numbered army has left and right compartments.
According to the normal establishment, the Imperial Guards of the Southern Tang Dynasty should have 50,000 people, but in fact, let alone the Southern Tang Dynasty, even the Central Plains court could not maintain such a standing army establishment.
Therefore, at this time, most of the Forbidden Army formations did not have compartments, but two armies, such as the left army and the right army, were the numbered armies.
A battalion has 500 people. A five-battalion army has 2,500 people. An army has two armies, which is a scale of 5,000 people.
The establishment of the Xiang was always full. This happened after the country became wealthy and the population increased in the Song Dynasty.
So at this time, what is this organization mostly used for?
The first is to give the military attachés a title, and command them in all positions, or command them all, which sounds majestic.
Second, during wartime, auxiliary troops such as civilian soldiers, state and county soldiers, or united rural soldiers would be stuffed in, quickly expanding an army of five thousand people on weekdays into an army of tens of thousands.
This is the same as Zhang Zhao's side. Zhang Zhao's imperial army, such as the Yulin Guard, has one guard with 3,000 people and two guards on the left and right with a total of 6,000 people.
Zhang Zhao is actually also considering whether to have a compartment similar to the frame master in the establishment.
Because this time was at the peak of ancient Chinese cold weapons, a brave soldier was in great need of other auxiliary personnel.
The strange thing about the Long Jie Army stationed in the Eastern Capital in the Southern Tang Dynasty was that it only had 3,000 people, and it was not divided into left and right armies. In fact, it was only one army in size.
No matter how you look at it, this somewhat strange organization is caused by the unique political system of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Li Jing's son Li Hongji was not the heir, so Li Jing had to let him hold the two positions of Dongdu Liushou and Dongdu Yin, which could cultivate private power.
But as a result, the army stationed in Yangzhou, the capital of the East, will be different from the past.
If, like in Jiangning, six divisions of the Forbidden Army plus some other Forbidden Army were set up, and there were 40,000 to 50,000 people around Jiangning, it would not be suitable for Yangzhou, the capital of the East.
Even if it is halved, it will not work, because this will easily cause Dongdu's remaining strength to be too expanded.
So Li Jing's solution is to only give one name to the Forbidden Army, which is not enough to fully staff it.
In addition, Long Jie's army is said to be a forbidden army, but from weapons to pay, they all follow a model that is much lower than that of the forbidden army, but better than that of state and county soldiers.
In the words of later generations, the Long Jie Army stationed in Yangzhou, the capital of the East, was a second-class division.
Use this second-class division to guard places like Yangzhou.
well! It can only be said that the Southern Tang Dynasty claimed to be descendants of Li Tang Dynasty, but they did not learn the benefits. Party disputes and heirs were stupid. They really failed to learn these two things.
Therefore, thanks to the perfect assist from the Southern Tang Dynasty court, they rushed into Gao Huaide's troops who were staying at the office in Dongdu, Yangzhou, and quickly defeated hundreds of Southern Tang defenders stationed here.
Gao Huaide originally thought that if he could not break the strong fortress of the left-behind office, he would have no choice but to set fire to it.
As a result, not to mention arson, more than 700 people rushed in and captured the left-behind office. It is estimated that no more than five people died in the battle, and the injured could be counted on two hands.
Gao Huaide even sent Huangfuchong with more than 300 cavalry to chase the defeated army to the gate of Long Jiejun's military camp.
Although Huangfu Chong was not good at commanding, he was also a bit awkward. Even Zhang Zhao couldn't do well in asking him to be a confidant for Huangfu's sake.
But the battlefield experience is very rich, and it is more than enough to be a captain with two to three hundred people.
As soon as he saw the military camp of Long Jie's army, he immediately stopped chasing him. He first ordered one hundred and fifty riders to dismount and line up in formation. He used divine arm bows and horned crossbows to block the gate of the military camp. When he got closer, he let people set off smoke and fireworks. Request reinforcements.
As soon as this set was completed, Long Jie's army organized an attack. However, due to the rush of time, only more than 500 people from Long Jie's army came.
The number of people was too small. Although they had many shields, they were still shot back by the combination of divine arm bows and horn crossbows blocked at the door. Huangfu Chong even organized the remaining cavalry and launched a counterattack.
When Long Jie's army was organized and more than 2,000 men rushed out with helmets and armor on, Yao Yuanfu also arrived with 1,500 cavalry.
Huangfuchong immediately pretended to be defeated and led more than 2,000 Long Jie's troops out of the military camp, waiting for them to pursue them to the northeast corner of Yangzhou City.
Yao Yuanfu suddenly charged out with 1,500 cavalry, and Long Jie's army chased them all the way. The formation was chaotic. The strong ones were already almost entering Yangzhou City, while the weak ones were only halfway through. Two thousand people had already reached the end of Yangzhou City. A long formation of snakes.
How could this withstand Yao Yuanfu's surprise attack? Long Jie's army almost collapsed in response. Except for a few who jumped into the river to escape, most of them were captured and killed.
The only force guarding Yangzhou disappeared in less than two quarters of an hour.
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Zhou Zong was sitting in the main hall of the Jiangdu Prefecture. In his mind, scenes of his encounter with Li Min, the great ancestor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, flashed out scene by scene.
The classics that Zhou Zong had read since childhood were all driving him to die now.
However, when he thought of the beautiful concubines and wine at home, the fertile land and mansion, and the daughter who he secretly regarded as a gifted mother to the world.
Of course, it is also possible that he was afraid of pain, so Zhou Zong, accompanied by a servant who was almost paralyzed by fear, was still reluctant to die.
Li Cunhui quickly eliminated the resistance from the left-behind office, and then saw Zhou Zong with a tangled look on his face and the servants lying limp on the ground beside him.
Li Cunhui narrowed his eyes, held the long knife in hand, and walked directly towards Zhou Zong.
Looking at the armored warriors of Zhou who were covered in blood and looked like demons, Zhou Zong couldn't help but tremble all over. He wanted to kneel down like a servant or collapse on the ground and kowtow to beg for mercy.
But the last bit of human dignity in his heart and the inexplicable sense of relief in his heart stopped Zhou Zong.
Li Cunhui looked at the frightened old man but never knelt down. He smiled evilly and gently dragged the horizontal knife in his hand on the ground.
The sound made people's hearts tremble and raise goosebumps, as if death was approaching. Zhou Zong couldn't help but make a sound in his throat, and his body always wanted to slide to the ground.
Li Cunhui suddenly stopped in time and continued to threaten. He picked up the round-collared robe of Zhou Zong's servant who was paralyzed from the ground, wiped the blood on the Hengdao, and then put the Hengdao back into its sheath.
After doing this, he handed over to Zhou Zongyi. "Li Cunhui, the commander of the Youyu Lin Guards of a certain family of the Great Zhou Dynasty, dare I ask if the elder in front of me is Zhou Gongjun Tai who is staying in the Eastern Capital?"
Seeing the bloody tiger on the opposite side of the Zhou army sheathing his sword and asking questions politely, Zhou Zong suddenly felt a little strength in his body, and the part of the three souls and seven souls that had escaped seemed to Back again.
He was about to answer when he suddenly heard a loud shout. "Who are you? This is the son of the Emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, a member of the royal family of the Tang Dynasty, and the Duke of Shouchang is in front of you. How dare you sit down and reply!"
It turned out that it was Li Cunhui who was accompanying him. Seeing that Zhou Zong actually wanted to sit on the chair to return the gift, he shouted loudly. Zhou Zong immediately blushed because it was indeed him who was rude.
"Talking too much!" Li Cunhui pretended to be angry and glared at his attendant, then reached out to help Zhou Zong sit down again, who had just stood up, and continued to say: "Zhou Weng is tall, so there is no harm in talking while sitting."
At this time, Zhou Zong still dared to sit down. As soon as his butt touched the chair, he quickly stood up as if he was being burned.
"May I ask the Duke, which clan am I related to?"
Well! Zhou Zong regarded Li Cunhui, a member of the Tang clan, as being related to Li Min and Li Jing, the "Datang".
A playful smile appeared on Li Cunhui's face, and he deliberately said lightly.
"Excuse me, I'd like to ask, my ancestor, the general manager of Lingzhou and Prince Su of Changping, Shu Lianggong, was the founder of Zhongsu and a good king. His descendants are in such a state of poverty that they have no shame to mention their ancestors!"
In fact, Li Cunhui's ancestor was not Li Shuliang, King of Changping. He was the cousin of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan, and the great-grandfather of Li Linfu, a sweet talker and a swordsman. He died in the war against the Turks in the early Tang Dynasty and was the mainstay of the clan.
Li Cunhui's ancestor was actually Li Shuliang's sixth brother, Li Youliang, Prince of Changle County.
However, Li Youliang was executed for ulterior motives, so when the Li Cunhui family mentioned their ancestors, they usually used Li Shuliang instead of Li Youliang or directly mentioned Li Yuan's sixth uncle Li Yi.
Zhou Zong once again made a big blush, and then he realized that the person in front of him was the real Tang clan.
Although it is a little too remote, the identity has been passed down for hundreds of years, and there is indeed blood.
Compared with Li Cunhui, Li Min and Li Jing, the father and son who falsely claimed to be members of the Tang Dynasty clan, immediately became parallel imports.
Zhou Zong knew this, because when Li Min came to find his ancestor, Zhou Zong followed him to make suggestions.
In fact, it may not be false, because the Tang Dynasty lasted for almost three hundred years, and before that, the Longxi Li family of the Tang Dynasty had been passed down for hundreds of years.
Over the past four hundred years, Li family members with the blood of Li Tang have spread all over the country. Maybe Li Min's ancestors are really from the clan, but he can't prove it and can only randomly find his ancestors.
After being disrespectful twice in a row, Zhou Zong could no longer act like a loyal minister, so he had to bow his head and salute Li Cunhui.
"The deputy of Jiangdu Prefecture in the Southern Kingdom stayed behind to stay with Zhou Zong. He met Duke Li of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The Duke was originally a distinguished noble of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Why did he lead the army of tigers and wolves to destroy our eastern capital?"
Li Cunhui chuckled, "Li Jing deceived the Tang clan, pretended to be the emperor first, sent troops to the north, and after standing in Xuzhou, he still wanted to occupy Songzhou.
My father, the master of destiny, obeys heaven and accepts punishment, why not? "
Zhou Zong wanted to refute, but he couldn't. You have already gone to Songzhou. You must know that Songzhou is only more than 300 miles away from Kaifeng, the capital of Zhou. You can go to Songzhou, why don't others go to your eastern capital? Come?
Zhou Zong actually had many questions he wanted to ask, such as how Zhou Jun's cavalry arrived in Yangzhou, etc., but he didn't dare to ask at this moment and could only stand there in embarrassment.
Li Cunhui didn't mind if the old man humiliated himself a few more times. After seeing that he didn't speak, he spoke.
"Now that the matter has come to this, please ask Weng Zhou to make some announcements to calm the people. Where is Judge Feng hiding? Please also tell me as well."
Li Cunhui came to Zhou Zong to ask him to cooperate in issuing notices to calm the people. Although Yangzhou, the capital of the East, had only three thousand troops stationed, it had hundreds of thousands of residents.
Once chaos is caused, robbery, rape, murder and arson occur, it will be troublesome.
After all, Li Cunhui only had 3,000 people, but he couldn't stand the chaos in Yangzhou, and it was impossible for him to send all his men out to maintain public security, so he planned to let Zhou Zong, who was the deputy left-behind man in the Eastern Capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty, come out to calm the people.
Facing Li Cunhui's request, Zhou Zong, who gradually lost his resistance during the conversation, could only agree.
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After getting Zhou Zong's peace notice and gold seal, Li Cunhui directly retained the officials who had stayed in the government office in Jiangdu Prefecture of the Southern Tang Dynasty and asked them to go out with Zhou Jun to appease the people as usual.
This was the result of Li Cunhui's efforts in studying and honing related skills after he rushed into Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo last time, but couldn't do anything. He could only watch Murong Xin grow up and shine in vain.
After coming out of the left-behind office, Li Cunhui left Huangfuchong to guard Zhou Zong, and immediately found Gao Xingzhou. At this time, Zhao Kuangyin also arrived with dozens of cavalry as messengers.
Li Cunhui immediately asked the two of them to find the officials of the left-behind office, get the key to the official warehouse in Dongdu, and take out part of the cloth, grain and oil in the official warehouse.
Then we set up twelve distribution points in various urban areas of Yangzhou to distribute all these things.
Gao Huaide looked at Li Cunhui in confusion, "Didn't you ask the Zhou Zong to come out to help the people? Why do you still need to open a warehouse to release grain?"
Li Cunhui smiled faintly, just like Murong Nobunaga pretended to be in front of them in the past. He said in front of Gao Huaide as if he had the pearls of wisdom in his hands.
"You can't always rely on others for everything. Zhou Zong's announcement to calm the people can only slightly alleviate the panic of the people in Yangzhou. Only if we distribute everything in the official warehouse and they benefit, will they not be afraid and even support us.
After the people support us, we can drive them and temporarily gain a foothold. "
Zhao Kuangyin raised his eyebrows. There was another advantage to this, that is, the people of Yangzhou took the money and food from the official warehouse, so they would not be able to inform the Southern Tang court without any psychological barriers.
"My lord, why don't you take out some more money from the official warehouse, and give more. Anyway, this is the final account of the Southern Tang Dynasty."
"Hahahaha!" Li Cunhui laughed a few times, "That's right, you will be responsible for this matter."
Then he looked back at Yao Yuanfu and several top-level cavalrymen.
"Deploy three hundred people to patrol the city. Anyone who dares to commit crimes will be killed without mercy, no matter who they are!"
