Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

After Guo Shao received the military order from the Privy Council and said goodbye to his family, he led his troops out of Beijing.

He was very considerate of his subordinates, and after letting everyone share the spoils, he arranged positions for the generals in the name of Xiangdu Commander. Some relatively high-ranking posts were taken temporarily, and the report was written and sent to the Infantry Division of the Tokyo Pro-Army Bodyguard Division; however, Li Chongjin, the commander of the Guards Division, and Wei Renpu, the Privy Council envoy of the Privy Council, were both in Huainan, so no one would approve it.

The Horse Army Division and the Infantry Division of the Guard Division are in charge of the Long Jie Army and the Tiger Jie Army respectively. However, the Horse Army Division and the Infantry Division are just titles, because both the Long Jie Army and the Tiger Jie Army have their own cavalry and infantry, and the Long Jie Army's cavalry is more powerful.

In the draft book, Li Chuyun was the commander of the capital of the First Army, Luo Yanhuan was the Marquis of Du Yu; the former Marquis of Yu of the Second Army Wang Zhang was the commander of the capital (he helped Guo Shao win the crucial battle in Tangcang Town), Yang Biao was the Marquis of Du Yu, and Luo Mengzi was the commander of the personal soldiers. Because some middle and low-level generals were killed and seriously injured in the battle, other meritorious officers and soldiers were promoted; the commander below Guo Shao was directly appointed... The right way is to share the money with everyone, but Guo Shao silently gave all the key positions with military power to his cronies. Wang Zhang of the Second Army also said that there was no one at the top and was willing to serve.

After more than ten days, the troops reached the north bank of the Huaihe River, and then Guo Shao arranged for the troops to cross the river in groups from the pontoon bridges on the river.

Just entered July, the weather is still so hot. Guo Shao stood by the Huaihe River and looked around. There was an endless wilderness. The wilderness was lush and green, the sky was blue and the river was clear. The Huainan Plain was really a good place in this era, which was good for both farming and transportation. It's completely different from what I saw and heard in the valley of the Qinling Mountains at the beginning of the year... No wonder the Great Zhou Emperor and the Southern Tang Emperor fought to the death, and the two sides spared no effort to compete for this piece of land here.

The place where the pontoon bridge was built is no longer in Zhengyang in the west of Shouzhou (now Shou County), but in Xiacai Town (today’s Anwei Fengtai County) in the north of Shouzhou... On the main road entering this area, there is a very tall and spacious archway with the inscription "Xiacai". I really don’t know the place name. I heard that Zhou Jun’s pontoon bridge was in Zhengyang, but I don’t know how it was moved to Xiacai. Maybe the emperor thought that the cities in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River were not captured, and the terrain in that place was too wide to be attacked by the Tang army?

The location of these pontoon bridges in Xiacai is a bit particular. The Huai River here is very curved, forming an upper shape of the word "convex", and Xiacai is at the top of the "convex". The terrain on the north side of the river is open, and after crossing the river, it is narrow and long due to the limitation of the river.

Guo Shao led all the troops across the Huai River without incident, and both sides of the Huai River in Xiacai were controlled and stationed by the Zhou army, which was very peaceful.

But just after crossing Huai River, Guo Shao's right eyelid twitched inexplicably... the human right eye twitched, and when he thought about it, he felt uneasy and had a faint feeling of something bad. Since the Taoist's elixir cured the Queen's illness, and he was connected with the words of the Maid Taoist about fate, even though Guo Shao had received a lot of modern education, he couldn't help but become more and more superstitious. He always felt that these mysterious things were inexplicable.

Feeling restless, Guo Shao led his troops south along the Huai River, walked along the main road, and arrived at the bank of a river in the afternoon, with a stone arch bridge over the river. This river flows from Chaohu Lake (now Wabu Lake) in the south to the Huai River. It is called Feishui, and it seems to be the place where the Feishui battle took place. Now compared with the Huai River, the river is relatively narrow, and in some places where the water is shallow, it may be possible to cross the river by wading on foot. However, there is a bridge to cross the bridge.

There was an endless stream of soldiers and horses, and the marching pace of the soldiers in front was neat. The sound of "click, click, click..." was very similar to the rhythm of modern troops walking in unison.

Guo Shao looked up and saw that the stone arch bridge in front of him was a little weak. Remembering the phenomenon of resonance, he ordered all the ministries to break up the queue and walk across the bridge indiscriminately.

...Unexpectedly, at this moment, Guo Shao had just crossed the bridge when he saw a civil servant with several horsemen watching by the side of the road. The official was sighing when he saw Guo Shao's army was in a mess. Guo Shao came forward to greet him with a smile, and exchanged greetings. After asking, he found out that it was Dou Yi, a scholar of the Imperial Academy. People I don't know at all. But when Dou Yi introduced others, there was a person named Zhao Pu accompanying him, which made Guo Shao feel as if he had heard of it somewhere... But Zhao Pu seemed to be an unknown person, and he didn't even introduce his official position. Guo Shao felt a little surprised, but suddenly he didn't remember what happened.

Seeing Dou Yi sighing just now, Guo Shao explained: "If you walk too neatly, the bridge may collapse and cause unnecessary casualties."

Dou Yi was stunned and remained silent. Guo Shao couldn't argue, he didn't know how to tell the scholar of the Imperial Academy, so he had no choice but to give up, but secretly sighed: It's terrible that a bachelor has no education.

Guo Shao bid farewell to Dou Yi. At this time, the noise from the south could already be heard. Guo Shao looked into the distance and saw the smoky Shouzhou City Tower deep in the wilderness. In addition to all kinds of noises, there are also faint shouts.

Entering the battlefield so quickly, Zhou Jun's front line is really long. I heard that the forward has captured Chuzhou City and is not far from the Yangtze River, and the Huaihe River is still fighting.

At this moment, Guo Shao met another official, a man in his fifties. Like Dou Yi, he also stood on the side of the road in official uniform and watched the marching troops. This person has long and narrow eye sockets, a lack of forehead, full cheeks, and a beard, but he is tall.

Guo Shao rode his horse to the side of the road, and the man looked at him with a smile. Guo Shao sized it up, patted his forehead, and said with a smile, "Prime Minister Li!"

It turned out to be Li Gu, and Guo Shao felt familiar... Before that, he had only seen Li Gu once in his life. Last year, on the way from Gaoping to Jinyang, Li Gu rewarded Guo Shao with more than twenty horses.

"Haha!" Li Gu laughed loudly, "Guo Dushi has a good memory, it's been more than a year since we met once, and you still remember me. But I'm not the prime minister now."

Guo Shao thought that when he arrived in Huainan, the most likely acquaintance he would meet first was Wang Pu, but unexpectedly it was Li Gu, who he was not very familiar with. When he suddenly met someone he knew, Guo Shao was also quite happy, and blurted out: "Haha, for me, it is easy to forget who treats me badly; but who is kind to me is always remembered very clearly! Last year, Mr. Li rewarded me with more than 20 military horses. At that time, it was quite rich for me. How can I not remember?"

"Good! Good!" Li Gu smiled, and the look in Guo Shao's eyes was even more interesting. Probably because he blurted out good and bad nonsense.

Li Gu sighed again: "Through the military merits, the promotion is really fast. I haven't seen him for more than a year. I really want to see each other with admiration for three days."

"Where is it?" Guo Shao pretended to be modest, "What important position does Li Gong hold now?"

Li Gudao: "Judging the Shouzhou government affairs. Now I mainly supply military rations and prepare for military expenses for the various ministries of Shouzhou. I will also send people to nearby places to appease the people and let the people settle down. I no longer lead soldiers, but these things are also very difficult. The soldiers are arrogant and indulgent. Sometimes they kill innocent people indiscriminately, and they are repeatedly prohibited."

Guo Shao hurriedly said: "I will definitely restrain my subordinates, prohibit them from burning, killing, and looting, so as not to cause trouble to Mr. Li." He thought to himself: If you can share the spoils after robbing, why do you bother to plunder?

Li Gu suddenly expressed his heart-to-heart to Guo Shao, and said in a deep voice: "The officials blamed me for delaying the battle, and I was almost convicted."

Guo Shao didn't think too much, and said directly: "I've also heard about the Zhengyang incident. Mr. Li is a prudent and cautious person, so he takes every step of the way; while the officials are eager to win...they just have different ideas. I don't think Mr. Li has done anything wrong."

"That's right." Li Gu stroked his beard and agreed very much.

Li Gu said again: "By the way, the barracks where the new soldiers and horses will be stationed is also arranged by me, so I will wait here for Guo Dushi. I will go with you now. The barracks and fences have been repaired, and a small village has been requisitioned in the camp. The Chinese army can be stationed in the village. There are many houses where people can live, which is much better than living in tents."

Guo Shao hurriedly thanked: "That's a really good place, thank you for your meritorious care."

"Haha, it should be." Li Gu laughed.

A group of people followed the army closer to Shouzhou City and came to the west of the city. Guo Shao observed along the way. The terrain of Shouzhou City is actually not that dangerous: although it claims to guard the Huaihe River, it is not on the edge of the Huaihe River. There is a vast flat area in the northwest far from the Huaihe River, and there are even many rice fields in the middle. The north of the city is close to Chaohu (now Wabu Lake) and the river Feishui that flows to the Huai River. There is a water gate on the north, and the three sides are relatively flat.

However, the city wall of Shouzhou looks very tall and has a very wide moat. It must have taken a lot of effort to build the city.

As he got closer, Guo Shao saw countless siege equipment erected outside the city wall, the moat in several places was filled, some ladders were erected on the city wall, and people with burning bodies kept falling down, black smoke billowed outside the city, stones and arrows flew in the air, and countless people were surrounded on three sides. The noise and shouts make people's ears "buzz". On the road away from the city wall of Shouzhou, a continuous stream of civilians carried the horrific wounded soldiers to this side, and there was a flood of people on the road.

At this moment, Guo Shao's scalp felt numb, and he thought: I hope you don't let me go to attack the city, this job is really impossible, it's too miserable.

Thinking about it, the first army and the second army of the left wing of the Tiger Jie army are two elite field soldiers who are more capable of fighting in the left wing. They should not be chased to climb the wall, otherwise it would be too wasteful. Thinking of this, Guo Shao feels at ease.

Guo Shao invited Li Gu to the barracks again. Unexpectedly, Li Gu said: "In the future, I will deliver food and prepare armaments for you. There will be many opportunities for exchanges. Now Guo Dushi had better go to the Chinese army camp to meet the officials..." Li Gu whispered, "I just heard that there is a secret report that the Eastern Capital of the Southern Tang Dynasty (Yangzhou) is not guarded. I guess the officials will rush to Chuzhou to deploy a new campaign in person. If you don't go to see each other, you won't even be able to see the officials when you come to Huainan."

"Thank you, Mr. Li, for reminding me." Guo Shaosui didn't stay, and quickly asked where he was, and went to the camp of the Chinese army.

After entering the gate of the camp, I met Wang Pu and was gently reminded: The officials want you to attack Shouzhou City.

Guo Shao's face darkened suddenly, and he said in his heart: I'll fuck it!