"Read the letter and say that when the army of Duke Xi arrived, the weather suddenly turned cold and the river froze. Our army crossed the Yalu River and the rebel army was defeated!" At this point, Su Ding raised his hand to the northwest. : "Relying on the power of the Holy Emperor, it seems that this time we can wipe out the den of thieves and avenge China's shame!"
Everyone's expressions became serious. Goguryeo can be said to be a curse to the Tang people. The three campaigns against Liao decades ago led to the destruction of the Sui Dynasty, and Emperor Taizong's divine martial arts could not bring it down. After he was eliminated, the youngest person in the tent was already over fifty years old. Do you want to leave this stubborn thief to your children and grandchildren?
"Pyongyang is the lair that the Goguryeo thieves have worked hard for hundreds of years!" Su Dingfang stood up and walked to the hanging map: "There are dozens of branch cities outside and strong soldiers inside to guard them. We must remove them in a hurry. We must remove their branches first. Then cut off the root! So the top priority is to urge the Silla and Baekje garrison to transport food and make a long-term plan!"
"good!"
"What the Chief Steward said is true!"
Everyone in the tent nodded in agreement. They were all veteran generals who had fought with Su Dingfang for many years. They knew that the old officer had a habit: when the situation was critical, he often acted very boldly and won from defeat; when the situation was favorable, he often acted very boldly. On the contrary, he is cautious and unwilling to take any risks. At present, the Northern Route Army commanded by Qibi Heli has crossed the Yalu River and is about to join forces with Su Dingfang at the gate of Pyongyang. This is a great situation that has not been seen in the Tang Dynasty's war with Goguryeo for decades. Su Dingfang has become cautious instead. It can be said that he has won a lot. The secret of "being brave is like being timid".
"Come here!" Su Dingfang summoned the military officials, and immediately, as the general manager of the Pyongyang Road march, issued a military order to Jin Inwen in Silla Kingdom and Liu Renyuan and Liu Ingui who were stationed in Baekje, ordering them to transport twenty soldiers in front of the snow. Thousands of stones of military rations were sent to the Pyongyang camp.
Just as the flapping of a butterfly's wings in South America caused a hurricane that affected the coast of South China, just as Su Dingfang was complacent under the walls of Pyongyang, a rebellion broke out in Mobei thousands of miles away. In October of that year, Bisu, the leader of the Tiele Uighur tribe, Du, Tongluo, Pugu and other nine surnames rebelled against the Tang Dynasty and invaded the border. Tang Gaozong had to recall Qibi Heli, who was originally the Khan of the Tie Le tribe, and appointed him as the Tie Le Dao pacifier to deal with the rebellion.
The sickle passed by and the wheat stalks fell in pieces. Sancho picked up an ear of wheat and brought it to his master. Wang Wenzuo took the ear of wheat, weighed it twice, and said with a wry smile: "Two hundred thousand stones of military rations? Before the snow? Sent to the Pyongyang military camp? This is really difficult!"
"There's no need to worry, Sanlang. The Silla people have to worry about military rations, so we don't have to worry about it!" Cui Hongdu said with a smile.
"That's true!" Wang Wenzuo threw the wheat ears casually. Just as Cui Hongdu said, although the military order of General Su was issued to the Tang army of Baekje and the Silla people at the same time, everyone knew that Baekje was now in a mess, and Sixian The city started eating rats last winter. Where can we transport military rations to Pyongyang? "But can the people of Silla produce so much food? Looking at the harvest here, it can only be said to be average, right?"
"This is not what we need to consider!" Cui Hongdu obviously has no sympathy for the Silla people: "Anyway, the military orders are like a mountain. Even if these Silla people go to eat grass, they still have to gather the military rations!"
Wang Wenzuo smiled. Among these township parties, Cui Hongdu was already considered knowledgeable, but he still did not transcend the limitations of his origin. In his eyes, the military should bleed for the emperor, and the farmers should farm diligently and pay taxes unconditionally. , doing labor service; since he traveled across the ocean to work in order to conquer Goguryeo, and the farmers of the Tang Dynasty scrimped on food and clothing and transferred grain, wouldn’t it be natural for the people of Silla, as a tributary of the Tang Dynasty, to squeeze grain out of their teeth and transport it to Pyongyang? ? As for whether the Silla people would risk starvation of the peasants and give 200,000 dan of military rations to the Tang army in Pyongyang, this was beyond the scope of his consideration.
Seeing that Wang Wenzuo was silent, Cui Hongdu thought that Wang Wenzuo didn't care about the military rations, so he lowered his voice and said: "Sanlang, I have found out something about the source of the iron weapons!"
"Oh? What do you mean? Where was it smuggled from?"
"It's not smuggled!" Cui Hongdu whispered: "According to the confession of the barbarians, their ironware was traded from a market town called 'Fuchu'."
"'Fuchu'?" Wang Wenzuo frowned: "Is that the only name? Do you know the specific location?"
"Those barbarians can't explain it clearly. They only know that this place is where the river flows into the sea. Every autumn, barbarians from all over the country come to trade in canoes and bring their own goods. Not only the barbarians, but also Baekje People, Silla people and Japanese people will also come across the sea. This 'Fuchu' means a borderland, a corner, a distant place in Manzi language!"
"Oh, that's very vivid. So these iron tools were also transferred from other places?"
"No, I heard from the barbarians that there is a lot of iron sand nearby. The local women washed the iron sand by the river, and the men opened furnaces to smelt iron. Barbarians from all over the country came here to exchange their own goods. Over time, this place became a market town. , there are two to three thousand people living together during the winter!”
"Iron sand, there must be iron ore nearby, and it is buried very shallowly, and the mineral quality is excellent!" Wang Wenzuo gave a high-five: "No wonder those iron arrowheads are made of good iron, but they are very rough! So that's what happened, when That's great!"
"Then this matter is written in the military report? Commander Liu will definitely reward us!"
"Why do you do this?" Wang Wenzuo showed an intriguing smile: "You have so many things to worry about right now, how can you still have the mood to care about such a small thing? Let's not worry about this!"
"But back then -" Cui Hongdu was stunned. He remembered that Wang Wenzuo's words about wanting to trace the source of the iron by himself were different from what he said now.
"This is the time and the other is the same. Besides, we also know that the market town is called 'Fuchu'. It is at the place where a certain big river enters the sea. There is nothing else. If Liu Shijun asks about the origin, what should we answer? If the answer If not, will Liu Shijun be angry with us for our inability to do things well and punish us instead?"
This time Cui Hongdu was persuaded, and he nodded: "What Sanlang said is that I will continue to interrogate those barbarians, and after I find out the truth about this matter, I will report it to the superiors!"
Looking at the departing figures of his companions, Wang Wenzuo smiled and shook his head. Did he think too much, or did they think too little? He didn't know, but one thing was very clear: in this dangerous land, if you were careless, you could be buried anywhere.
