Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

After leaving Huazhou, crossing the Weishui River, going south to Shangluo, then passing through Danshui River and descending through Wuguan, we will leave the Qinling Mountains and will soon enter the Nanyang Basin.

The Danshui flows down along the western edge of the Nanyang Basin. To enter here, the team needs to go east, cross the Junshui of the Danshui flow, and then enter the heart of the Nanyang Basin.

There are no fixed bridges on the Junshui River, so you can only cross the river by boat. Li Tai's troops totaled more than 15,000 soldiers, craftsmen, soldiers, etc., coupled with the huge logistics team, it was obviously not enough for three or five ferries to cross the river.

As early as when he was about to arrive at Wuguan, Li Tai rode ahead with his troops and notified the local governors to prepare for the invasion of the army. The first place the team entered after leaving the Wuguan Ancient Road was Xizhou, and Cui Xuanyou, who was the governor of Xizhou at the time, had already led his ministers to greet Li Tai and his party in the state.

"Cui You, the lower official, asked me to send my envoys to deliver the message. Now all the state and government officials are at the border to welcome you. The state government has also tried its best to prepare the boats and carriages needed for the army's journey. If there are any deficiencies, please forgive me!"

Seeing Li Tai riding out on horseback surrounded by all the soldiers, Cui You hurriedly led the people to meet him and stood in front of the horse on the left side of the road to bow to him.

When Li Tai saw this, he quickly turned over and dismounted. He quickly raised his hands to support Cui You's arms and did not dare to accept the courtesy. He said with a smile: "Cui You is the first to advance in matters, and he is virtuous in private affairs. The younger generation comes here." I still need more advice, please don’t be too polite or make fun of juniors.”

In the early years when he first entered Kansai, Cui You had come forward to help when Li Hu made things difficult for him and unintentionally offended the eldest son's family. Now that they meet here, Li Tai will naturally not be arrogant because of his higher official position.

Seeing Li Tai's attitude, Cui You was quite pleased, but he still followed the etiquette of his subordinates and introduced the people in his state capital to Li Tai one by one. He then said with a smile: "I know that something will happen to you in Jingzhen. Your Majesty's heart is really uplifted, and you are a proud man, and you are brave enough to win over all the troops. You are able to harmonize with the people and inspire people to make progress. Now that everyone is looking up to you for your outstanding demeanor, you should know that the preface is true!"

Today, Li Tai can be said to be everyone's favorite among the clans that migrated to the west. It can be said that he single-handedly broke through and elevated the treatment and power of the Kanto clan in the Western Dynasty. Relatives and party members such as Cui Qian have made real progress because of this.

In recent years, Li Tai has shown himself to be strong and brave. Every time he was praised and praised, it was related to his military exploits. People at that time were more cautious and respectful when facing him. It had been a long time since he had heard similar praise. He was very happy after hearing this. Talking and laughing with Cui You, they went to the state.

Xizhou is also one of the thirteen states under Li Tai's command, but its territory is not very large. It is located in the transition zone between the Qinling Mountains and the Nanyang Basin. Its basic function is to guard Wuguan. The entrance and exit of the road.

Li Tai only supervised the military affairs, so he couldn't inquire too deeply about the people's livelihood and government affairs here. But when he asked Cui You about the state's military preparedness, the answer he got was a bit dumbfounding.

Although Xizhou is at the state-level administrative level, the only thing that can be called an armed force is the more than 2,000 barbarians allocated to the state capital. If there is military demand, it can barely make up four to five hundred barbarians. .

Although Xizhou's armed forces are weak, this is because of the state's governance position, and it is not without its merits. This is an important transit place between Nanyang and Guanzhong, so there is a considerable reserve of vehicles such as horses, horses, boats, and Wuguan guards often rest here when they are on duty.

After hearing Cui You's introduction, Li Tai immediately became interested and asked Cui You about the preparations for warships and attack equipment for water battles.

After hearing this, Cui You shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Water warfare is certainly not what we northerners are good at. Even if warships are prepared, they will inevitably be idle for a long time, and the annual maintenance cost is not small. Therefore, the state is not well prepared. Even Jingzhou This town also has few provisions, and the boats are only used to cross the river. But if the war requires it, we can attack the enemy's waterfront garrison. If we can't attack it, it will be useless. "

Li Tai also heard the implication of Cui You's words, which is that we are really not good at water warfare. If you really want to do it, it's not impossible. If you capture the enemy's dock, you will have warships to use. But if you can't even attack the southerners' dock, Come down, then just take a shower and go to sleep.

So being poor is not useless. At least you can have a safety net when you are hot-headed. If you are rich and have everything you want, then giving away your life can be extremely smooth.

Li Tai stayed another night in the capital of Xizhou, and asked Cui You about the current situation around Jingzhou. Cui You's answer also made him afraid to be optimistic.

All in all, Wang Sizheng abandoned the town and went to Henan, which had a very bad impact on Jingzhou and even almost created a power vacuum.

Changsun Jian had been in the town for many years. Although he had not made much achievements in military and political affairs, he was finally able to maintain a basic situation and stability. Under Chang Sun Jian, the most important military and political figure in Jingzhou was Quan Jingxuan, who came from the Heluo battlefield. Quan Jingxuan's troops were also the most powerful army in Jingzhou before. They could defend the territory and overwhelm both the inside and outside.

Although some of the more than 10,000 troops that Wang Sizheng brought from Jingzhou were from Hengnong, most of them were locals in Jingzhou.

Since the Bafu rarely directly increases troops in Jingzhou, the development of Jingzhou's armed forces is also very slow. Although there are tens of thousands of them, most of them are local powerful tribes and barbarians, and only a few are actually under the jurisdiction of the state government. Thousands of people.

Wang Sizheng took most of the state soldiers with him when he went to Henan, especially the troops under Quan Jingxuan, which made Jingzhou completely lack the military force representing the Western Wei hegemony. Only a few county officials could not suppress the powerful barbarian chieftains.

These local powerful barbarian chieftains lived in the border area where the north and the south met. They were cunning and easy to cause chaos. Seeing that Jingzhou's defense was so empty, they were naturally ready to move. Some of them who had close contacts with the Southern Dynasty even took the opportunity to pass on the news and intended to attract the southerners to invade. Liang State led its clan member Xiao Fan to invade, which was not unrelated to this.

Fortunately, the Shangluo tyrant Quan Zhongzun led his troops to arrive in time, added defenses and called on the state people to resist, which successfully defended the state. The main way Quan Zhongzun commanded the state people was to grant a large number of state and county official positions to those powerful barbarian chieftains who attracted public attention.

So although Jingzhou has been saved, the personnel and administration are in a mess. It can be said that it is an absolute mess.

Cui You only knows a rough idea of ​​the military and political chaos in Jingzhou. After all, he is still a subordinate of Jingzhou in terms of authority. Telling Li Tai this is just to give him a shot of prevention.

But after listening to it, Li Tai couldn't help but feel that even if it was just a shot of prevention, the effect of the medicine seemed a bit strong.

Feeling that the situation in Jingzhou was not good, Li Tai did not continue to stay on the road. The next morning, when the troops and horses were halfway across, he led his 3,000 elite troops straight to Rangcheng.

The Nanyang Basin was prosperous in the Han Dynasty, but it quickly fell into decline after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In addition, when Li Tai arrived here, it was already late autumn. The grass and trees in the fields were withered and extremely lonely. There were few people in sight. Occasionally, there were villages and towns where people lived, and there must be walls separating the inside and the outside. It can be seen that the war was deeply damaged.

Li Tai couldn't help but frown when he saw this scene. In his opinion, the three kingdoms rarely fought in Nanyang for several years, and his cousin Cui Qian also heard from Changsun Jian that the people of the state lived a stable life and were not prone to chaos. But based on what he saw, the people were like frightened birds, which was far from what they should be like in peaceful times.

As they marched along, the cavalry scouts distributed around also reported that there would be groups of foot soldiers around. They were afraid of the size of their team and did not dare to approach them. They would scatter when they were chased, and they didn't look like good people.

The cavalry brigade of more than 3,000 people was still very deterrent in this wilderness. Li Tai and his party arrived outside Rangcheng without any danger.

The circumference of this city is nearly 20 miles, and its scale is not small. There is a river running east and west in the south of the city, passing around the city. In the east of the city, there are mounds of earth, and there are garrison towers and other facilities on the mounds. The two gates in the northwest have been closed, and it looks like a well-guarded city.

Li Tai walked around the city to admire it. The guards on the top of the city kept shouting nervously, and the several gates that were opened were closed in a hurry.

Li Tai was waiting to see how the guards reacted to the stress, so he was not in a hurry to announce their names. His troops were only arranged in the west of the city. Seeing the soldiers running around in the city, they were orderly. However, Li Tai also noticed that a considerable number of these soldiers were not wearing ordinary hakama uniforms, but were wearing colorful clothes, and their shouts were mostly in obscure dialects that were difficult to hear.

At this time, a trail of dust came from the rear. Several cavalrymen rushed forward, waving their hands to indicate that they were not armed. After approaching, they shouted loudly: "Excuse me, is your commander the Xihe Lord Li Shijun who is coming to town? We are also subordinates of the prefecture. We are waiting for you on the post road. We heard that a large group of people entered the country from the side road..." Li Tai then waved his hand to signal his personal soldiers to come forward to show the talisman and identify themselves. After the other party verified that they were correct, they turned their horses and returned to report. Soon, the group of knights came over one after another, led by the former Jingzhou governor Quan Zhongzun. Quan Zhongzun had met Li Tai before, but it had only been a few months since they last met. He was still as enthusiastic as before when they met again. He dismounted from his horse and walked over from a distance, crossed his hands and said with a smile: "Since I received the order, I have been waiting for you to come to the town. It is really rude to welcome you at this time!" However, the people behind him were not as enthusiastic about Li Tai's arrival as Quan Zhongzun. A middle-aged man with a short and strong figure, also wearing colorful clothes, who seemed to be the chief of the barbarian tribe, said in a deep voice: "The situation in Jing Town is treacherous and different from Guanxi. If you wander around freely, I am afraid you will be disturbed by the people in the wild."