Nu Yalang of Tang Dynasty

When Li Heng proclaimed himself emperor in Xiangyang, Zhou Jun also escorted the emperor to Shuofang.

Yang Yuhuan and a group of princes and princesses, escorted by soldiers, went west to Liangzhou; while Li Longji, accompanied by Zhou Jun, went east to Lingwu.

Your Majesty has come to Shuofang.

As soon as the news came out, people in Hexi and Shuo were full of joy.

Envoys from the Hexi Army, Shuofang Army, Anxi Army, and Beiting Army rushed to Lingwu to pay homage to the emperor.

In the huge main hall of Lingwu Mansion, the generals from the four major military towns of the Tang Dynasty gathered together.

Everyone looked at Li Longji on the throne, bowed their heads and knelt down together, and shouted long live.

Li Longji looked at the generals in the hall, all of them were heroic and brave. Some of the ambitions that had been extinguished during the escape were gradually restored.

He stood up, first made all the generals stand down, and then said: "The rebel army was lucky to temporarily capture the east and west capitals. I knew that the situation was irreversible, so I endured the humiliation and came to Lingwu. With the help of everyone here, I can recover the Tang Dynasty.

, driving out the traitor army is just around the corner!”

Hearing this, Zhou Jun, who was standing next to Li Longji, couldn't help but curse in his heart. He clearly left the civil and military forces in the court and the people in the city behind and fled to Shu. However, he had no choice but to come to Lingwu, but he said that he had to endure the humiliation and bear the burden.

Zhou Jun thought this in his heart, but the generals in the palace kept calling for long live the mountains.

Seeing that his morale was ready, Li Longji was filled with relief and said with a smile: "I see in my eyes the intention of serving the country, and I am grateful in my heart. From now on, I will fight bravely against the enemy and make contributions, and we will all be the pillars of the Tang Dynasty!"

When everyone agreed, Li Longji smiled and pointed to Zhou Jun beside him and said: "Zhou Lang is my son-in-law. Although he is a relative of the emperor, his achievements are obvious to all. In the early years, he defeated the Turks, and later

He planned to build the Daqi trade route, then attacked Tubo and defeated the food, and he fought on the battlefield for many years without ever losing. He is a rare and handsome man. I have made him the general of the auxiliary country before, and today I will give him the title of soldiers and horses of the world.

The position of marshal is to take charge of the world's troops and attack the bandits."

Before this court meeting, the military generals had heard about it long ago, so they were not overly surprised by Zhou Jun's appointment as the marshal leading the world's troops.

However, everyone felt the same emotion in their hearts.

Zhou Jun is only twenty-nine years old at the moment.

A young man who was born in Nuya and was less than thirty years old could actually become the marshal of the Tang Dynasty. This kind of thing is something that even dramas would not dare to write about, but it happened in real life.

Zhou Jun took a step forward, turned back and knelt down towards Li Longji, thanking him.

Li Longji smiled and awarded him the seal, and asked the chamberlain to read the imperial edict in public.

After doing all this, Li Longji first encouraged him, and then excused himself from being tired and left the hall.

All the generals in the palace knelt to see the emperor off.

Zhou Jun stood up and looked at everyone.

The generals thought that the newly appointed commander was going to give some lectures, but unexpectedly the first words out of Zhou Jun's mouth were: "Put up the map."

After his servants placed the map in the center of the hall, Zhou Jun called the generals to gather over and discuss the current war situation.

At first, the generals were a little uncomfortable with Zhou Jun's style of not being bureaucratic and only talking about practical matters.

However, after a while, I gradually got used to it.

The generals present representing the Anxi Army and the Beiting Army were Li Guangbi and Duan Xiushi.

Li Guangbi first said to Zhou Jun: "Commander, the Second Army of Anbeiting has been reorganized and can set off at any time."

Zhou Jun looked at Li Guangbi and nodded imperceptibly.

Seeing this, Li Guangbi understood the situation and added: "When General Mo was stationed in the camp, he saw a large number of refugees from Guanzhong pouring into the Hexi area to escape the war. This caused local food prices to skyrocket and the people were miserable. If this situation continues, I am afraid it will affect the

Food mobilization and local security.”

Hearing this, Pei Mian, the deputy envoy representing the Hexi Army, immediately agreed: "The area in Hexi was originally not rich in food and grass, but now a large number of refugees have poured in, the price of food has been pushed up again and again, and the value of silk and silk has been repeatedly depreciated, which has already affected Hexi.

The military has had a certain impact.”

When Zhou Jun heard this, he muttered: "Lingwu is close to the front line. Your Majesty will not stay for a long time. I am afraid that he will have to move to Liangzhou. There are many refugees there, which may hinder the view."

Everyone couldn't help but nodded after hearing this.

After Li Longji showed his face in Lingwu, he would eventually go to Liangzhou to live in the rear.

There were so many homeless people there that His Majesty felt dissatisfied after seeing it for a while, and he might even vent his anger on others.

Zhou Jun ordered: "Duan Xiushi."

Duan Xiushi came out: "The end will be here."

Zhou Jun: "You lead an army and guide the refugees to move westward."

Duan Xiushi first agreed, and then asked: "What if someone obstructs it?"

Zhou Jun: "Your Majesty has moved to Liangzhou, and dealing with the refugees has become a top priority. I will ask for the imperial edict, and anyone who dares to obstruct it will be severely punished."

After hearing this conversation, everyone else in the hall was confused.

How could anyone stop the migration of refugees to the west?

Only Zhou Jun, Duan Xiushi and Li Guangbi knew that using Li Longji's name to deal with the refugees was a sham. Taking back control of Dunhuang and regaining control of the Daqi trade route was the ultimate goal.

After talking about the refugees, Zhou Jun asked Pei Mian, the deputy envoy of Hexi Festival, about military preparations and military strength.

Pei Mian sighed and said: "The Hexi Army still has 80,000 soldiers, but most of them are new recruits. They are not well trained and have difficulty becoming combat effective."

Zhou Jun asked: "How did the Hexi Army become like this?"

Pei Mian hesitated at first, but finally gritted his teeth and said: "In the Battle of Tongguan, the main force of the Hexi Army was almost exhausted. Most of the former elites have now become prisoners of the bandits."

When all the generals heard this, they were all silent.

Pei Mian smiled bitterly and said: "I heard that the Hexi Army is pretty good, but the Longyou Army is even worse. They are close to Chang'an, and more soldiers have been transferred. Moreover, the area is vast and sparsely populated, so it is not easy to recruit soldiers, so the current number of soldiers is serious.

insufficient."

Zhou Jun knew that although Pei Mian had some fear of war when he said these words, overall, they were indeed true.

The Hexi and Longyou Second Army experienced the Battle of Nanzhao and the Battle of Tongguan. Most of their elite troops have been exhausted, and the rest are old, weak, sick and disabled. It is indeed difficult to form a combat force.

Therefore, Zhou Jun looked at the only representative of Shuofang Army who had not yet spoken, Pugu Huaien.

Pugu Huai'en had heard Zhou Jun's name countless times from Guo Ziyi, but this was the first time he had met him formally.

In Guo Ziyi's words, Zhou Jun was brave and resourceful, loyal and courageous, and he was a great favor to Shuofang's army by gifting him with the method of frying tea.

Before they met, Pugu Huai'en, who was from Tiele, had always thought that Zhou Jun was eight feet tall, mighty and brave, and as strong as an iron tower.

But the real Zhou Jun was young, handsome, and gentle. He didn't look like a military attache at all, but more like a civilian official.

Pugu Huai'en, who was a little disappointed in his heart, did not dare to show any slightness on his face, and raised his hands to Zhou Jun and said: "Commander, Shuofang's army previously recaptured Changshan, Gaocheng, Jiumen and other prefectures and counties. The former army once pushed to Zhao.

county."

When Zhou Jun heard this, he was overjoyed. As expected of Guo Ziyi, he could actually take down the hard bones of Gaocheng and Jiumen and push the front into Zhaojun, the hinterland of Hebei.

Pugu Huai'en's next words extinguished Zhou Jun's joy: "Commander, Shuofang's army is now at the end of its strength. A month ago, Guo Duhu started to withdraw his troops back to Changshan."

Zhou Jun was stunned: "Withdraw troops? Why?"

Pugu Huaien then explained the reason. It boils down to just two words - food and grass.

Shuofang's 60,000-strong army fought against Shi Siming's troops for many months, consuming a huge amount of food and fodder.

An Lushan had spent several years hoarding grain before his rebellion, so Shi Siming naturally had no worries about food.

But Shuofang's army is different. Half of the army's food and grass are self-sufficient, and the other half depends on supplies from Guanzhong.

However, due to natural disasters and the chaos in Guanzhong, the supply from the south was insufficient, and Shuofang's army was already short of food. In addition, the harvest in the field was poor, and the only business that could be used to earn military pay was fried tea, which had to be closed due to the war.

Therefore, Shuofang's army is now at the bottom of its supply chain. If it does not retreat, it may lead to a major defeat.

Guo Ziyi had no choice but to order the troops to withdraw.

After listening to Pugu Huaien's words, Zhou Jun asked Pei Mian: "How much grain and grass are there in Hexi?"

Pei Mian shook his head and said: "The influx of refugees has raised the price of food. In addition, we have to supply food to the Second Army in Beiting, Anxi. There is not much food left in Hexi."

Zhou Jun sighed and faced the Hebei rebels. The troops were all here, but the food supply was at the bottom.

Pugu Huai'en said again: "Commander, besides food and grass, the general has one more thing to do."

Zhou Jun: "What's the matter?"

Pugu Huai'en: "Shi Siming, the general of the bandit army, is brave, resourceful and scheming, but he is actually a serious danger that the commander has to guard against."

Upon hearing the name Shi Siming, Zhou Jun asked for details.

As Pugu Huai'en narrated, Zhou Jun became more and more frightened as he listened.

Facing the menacing Shuofang army, Shi Siming knew that he was outnumbered, so he did not choose to resist forcefully. Instead, he stood firm and cleared the country, fighting a tug-of-war with Shuofang army while looking for opportunities to carry out sneak attacks.

From Changshan to Jiumen, the grain road is narrow and difficult to navigate, and is lined with rocks on both sides, making it very suitable for ambushes.

Therefore, Shi Siming simply fought and retreated on the frontal battlefield, and instead focused on sneak attacks on the grain roads.

Confronting Shuofang's army's grain transport team, Shi Siming harassed it with light cavalry, and was not willing to fight. He used kerosene and rockets to burn them all, and then retreated immediately, without giving Shuofang's army any chance to counterattack.

As a result, Shuofang's army's food pressure increased sharply, and they even ran out of food for a period of time and had to kill horses to share the food.

Not only that, Shi Siming fought against Shuofang's army in the west and the Hebei rebel army led by Yan Zhenqing in the east.

Shi Siming, who fought on two fronts, not only did not lose, but also won consecutively.

When Guo Ziyi withdrew his troops from Zhao County, Shi Siming conducted an ambush and pursued him. When he found that he could not gain any advantage, he turned his attention to Yan Zhenqing in the north.

Using light cavalry surprise attacks, Shi Siming successively captured Xindu, Jingcheng, Qinghe, Boping, Le'an, as well as Pingyuan, Raoyang and other counties that had held firm for a whole year.

Li Wei, the prefect of Jingcheng, died in battle; Li Xi, the prefect of Raoyang, committed suicide by throwing himself into the fire; Zhang Xing, the general of Raoyang Pi, was captured and would rather die than surrender, and was finally tied to a wooden board and sawed alive.

Even Yan Zhenqing, seeing that the situation was over, had to abandon Pingyuan County and flee south.

At this point, the 23 counties in Hebei fell into the hands of the rebels again.

Zhou Jun couldn't help but take a breath when he heard this.

He knew that Shi Siming was difficult to deal with, but he didn't expect that it would be so difficult.

Moreover, although the four armies of Anxi, Beiting, Hexi, and Shuofang have been gathered together, the lack of food has become the biggest problem that hinders the march into Hebei.