Tibet

In Liuxiang, Magistrate of Weicheng County, Huazhou, dozens of soldiers surrounded a village. The soldiers rushed in. The village suddenly burst into tears, property was robbed, and women were raped. After a while, the soldiers carried large and small bags and escorted ten people. Several men, with their hands tied behind their backs, returned to Kaifeng County.

This is just a microcosm. In fact, the same thing that makes people and gods angry is happening throughout the Central Plains.

The reason was that Emperor Li Heng received an express report from Yu Chaoen and learned that Shi Siming's 130,000 troops were going south to rescue An Qingxu.

Yu Chaoen was worried that the troops would not be enough to fight against the bandit army, so he suggested that the emperor reinforce 300,000 troops. Li Heng immediately ordered the states in Henan Province to raise 300,000 troops to quickly support Xiangzhou.

Recruitment quotas were broken down and issued layer by layer. Huazhou also received a recruitment quota of 8,000 soldiers. The governor Wang Houhua was so worried that he could not even eat. The population of Huazhou was not large in the first place, but it was massacred by the Yan army. A large number of people fled south. Where? Eight thousand young men can also be recruited.

Wang Xu, an aide, gave him an idea, "Don't be too anxious, sir. The humble position is probably the same everywhere, and you will definitely not be able to complete the task. The current plan is to send people to every township and village to catch young men. As many as you can catch." ."

Wang Houhua sent more than a dozen teams to capture young men in various places and forcibly arrested young men. Regardless of whether they were old or weak, they would arrest men, and thus the opening scene occurred.

Everyone likes to arrest young men, who can take the opportunity to seize people's property and rape women. For a time, from south to north, from east to west, young men are being arrested everywhere in Henan Province, taking the opportunity to plunder people's property, and countless women are raped.

Du Fu's Three Officials and Three Farewells was written in this context, but it angered the emperor Li Heng and dismissed Du Fu. Fortunately, Li Dai interceded on Du Fu's behalf. Although Du Fu was dismissed, he was not investigated and fled south with his family. .

Huazhou struggled for half a month to capture strong men, but they only captured more than 3,000 people. Most of them were old and weak, which made the governor Wang Houhua very worried.

At noon that day, the guard suddenly came to report, "The envoy is informed that an army has arrived outside the city. They say they are stragglers from Wagang Mountain and have come to seek refuge with the envoy."

Wang Houhua's eyes lit up and he asked hurriedly: "How many people are there?"

"About three thousand people!"

"I gonna go see!"

Wang Houhua rushed to the city with several officials and staff.

I saw thousands of soldiers standing outside the city. They were all sallow and thin, and their clothes were ragged. The leader, the general, was riding a thin horse and holding a spear.

"Is there Governor Wang in the city?" the leading general asked loudly.

Wang Houhua nodded, "That's what I am. Who are you?"

"We were originally under the governor Yan of Weizhou. The villain is Yang Jing, and behind him are all my subordinates."

It turned out that he was a subordinate of Yan Zhenqing. Wang Houhua asked again: "Since he is a subordinate of Yan Shangshu, why did he come to Huazhou?"

"President Yan returned to Beijing last year to report on his duties, and the army was dispersed. We have been wandering around Hebei. Last winter, we crossed the Yellow River to Huazhou and hid in Wagang Mountain. Recently, we have really been unable to survive. I heard that the governor was recruiting troops, so we came here to join us. ."

As soon as everyone heard this, they understood that they must be stragglers who were wandering around Hebei, raping, burning, and killing.

Chief Shi Liu Zhen asked: "Since it is the Tang Army, why don't you go to Luoyang to report? His Royal Highness is in Luoyang."

Yang Jing hesitated and said: "We are forced by life and have committed some sins. We dare not go to see the prince. I beg you to accept it. We are willing to make meritorious service and atone for our sins!"

Wang Houhua hurriedly discussed with everyone. Chief Shi Liu Zhen said: "They are no longer the Tang army, but a wandering bandit army. If we take them in, we will definitely be killed and we will ignore them."

Staff Wang Xu said: "Now the imperial court has pressed us for eight thousand quotas, and we have worked hard to complete three thousand. What should we do with the five thousand left? In my opinion, the troops are sent to Luoyang anyway, and if they want to cause harm, they will cause harm to other places. What do we have to do? Besides, if they stay in Huazhou, they will definitely burn, kill and loot everywhere, so why not take this opportunity to send them away."

Wang Houchu was already overwhelmed by the recruitment target and had trouble sleeping and eating. Suddenly, 3,000 people came. Even if he finished 6,000 people, he was better than others and could be handed over. What's more, what Wang Xu said made sense. They were all sent to Luoyang anyway, causing harm to other places. , what does it have to do with yourself? He was really tempted.

"Liu Changshi, I think it's feasible, what do you think?"

Liu Zhen was a little hesitant at this time. What Wang Xu said was indeed reasonable. If these wandering bandits were not sent away, they would only continue to harm Huazhou if they stayed in Wagang Mountain.

Liu Zhen nodded, "Mr. Wang is right. This is indeed an opportunity to send them away, but they are not allowed to enter the city and can only camp outside the city. We will send them away in the next two days."

Wang Houchu immediately sent Wang Xu to negotiate with the other party. The other party only had one condition, which was to have a full meal and everything else could be agreed to.

The two sides hit it off immediately. Wang Houhua sent them food, fat pigs and tents. Three thousand soldiers camped outside the city. The state government sent people to register their names and compile them into a list. Wang Houhua made a little trick when compiling the list, dividing them all over the world. Their place of origin was all changed to Huazhou. If the accent was really wrong, they changed their status to refugee.

What is money laundering is to turn illegal income into legal income through some means. The same is true for soldier laundering, turning soldiers of unknown origin into legal soldiers.

This army was of course an undercover army sent by Shi Siming. Through this recruitment in Henan Province, and by taking advantage of Huazhou's recruitment dilemma, they successfully laundered their suspicious identities into legal recruits.

As for whether they will be dispersed and resettled, this is just a small problem. As long as money is used to open the way, everything will be easy to decide.

Three days later, the second batch of 3,000 recruits recruited by Huazhou rushed to Luoyang to report. The leader was Yang Jing, the captain of the Huazhou regiment. Even the identity of the commander Yang Jing was cleared.

Frankly speaking, the imperial court made a major tactical mistake in dealing with Shi Siming before. It should not act too hastily. It should stabilize Shi Siming first. After An Qingxu is dealt with, it is not too late to fall out with Shi Siming.

Falling out too early caused Shi Siming to become An Qingxu's reinforcements, which brought great changes to the imperial court's suppression of An Qingxu.

Shi Siming led 130,000 Youzhou troops to occupy Yuancheng County, Weizhou, and confronted the Tang army in Xiangzhou. At this time, the Tang army was capturing strong men in various places, with a total force of 400,000. Yu Chaoen besieged the city for four months, and the food in the city was cut off, but An Qingxu killed The horse is for food and still refuses to surrender.

However, Shi Siming's army refused to be fooled and refused to come to the rescue. The Tang army had too many troops and consumed huge amounts of food. Yu Chaoen finally lost his temper and prepared to abandon Anyang City and lead his army to fight against Shi Siming.

In the big tent, Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi were discussing the battle. The battle, which could be ended in a few days with a hundred thousand troops, had been dragged on for four months, not to mention the delay in fighting. Now the situation is becoming more and more complicated, morale is low, and the morale of the army is weakened.

Moreover, the number of troops increased to 400,000, and everyone was in separate formations, making it even more chaotic.

Li Guangbi said anxiously: "Old General, the top priority now is to organize a death army to capture Anyang City at all costs. If this continues, sooner or later something big will happen."

Guo Ziyi sighed: "I don't know. It's just that the fish master refuses to attack the city. I don't know what he thinks."

Li Guangbi gritted his teeth and said: "Why don't we go to Luoyang to find the prince and invite the prince to command the siege. After all, he is the commander in chief."

"Here's the problem. The emperor clearly asked the prince to be the commander, but he was not allowed to come to Anyang. Instead, he asked a eunuch to take command, but Yu Chaoen kept delaying without fighting. Don't you think it's a bit against common sense and a bit strange?"