Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The main general Guo Shao and Hakka envoy Zan Jurun led the army from Tokyo and marched for more than a thousand miles. They did not reach the border of Qizhou (northeast of today's Shijiazhuang City) until October.

"Look! Hutuo River." Zhou Duanyao pointed to a quiet river in front of him, which was very conspicuous on the barren plain in autumn and winter.

Seeing Zhou Duan's agitated expression, Guo Shao was surprised, and asked if there was any allusion to the Hutuo River? Zhou Duan said: "There is no allusion, but the Hutuo River is one of the three major rivers in Hebei. In the land of deep clouds, once it crosses the Yanshan Mountain to the north and south, there is no danger to defend. There is no danger to defend, and the (later) Jin Dynasty lost Beizhou, and the country would die, and the Zhangshui would actually be lost.”

The strategic position of these places is not seen, but something summed up in countless wars in history. Guo Shao didn't read many history books, and the famous history books only recorded major events, and the specific places were not detailed. If he hadn't listened to Zhou Duan's explanation, he still didn't know what was so important about the Hutuo River.

This guy Zhou Duan can explain the situation in the north clearly, probably because he has read many books that ordinary people can't see. People from aristocratic families, even if they are poor, seem to be able to borrow books from their relatives in the clan. They are indeed more knowledgeable than ordinary people. Zuo You listened attentively, without saying a word, probably he couldn't figure out these things, and there was a bit of envy on his face.

"No wonder the Privy Council asked us to 'patrol the border' and chose Qizhou." Guo Shao suddenly said at this time, "I was also a little puzzled before. Qizhou seems to be not well-known and I have never heard of it. How could I choose this place? It turns out that it is because of the Hutuo River! According to what Mr. said, the northernmost Juma River is in the hands of the Liao people, so this Hutuo River has become the front line of Hebei's defense line."

"That's right, but there is still Jiezhen in front of the defense, which is the frontier stronghold." Zhou Duan said, "Dingzhou is in the hands of Zhou Jun."

Guo Shao heard him speak clearly and logically, and became more respectful in his words, and called "Mr." instead of calling him by his first name like before.

At this time, Li Chuyun came up on his horse and said: "There is no bridge on this river. We must send people to Qizhou to find the local governor and ask them to take things to build a floating bridge so that the army can cross the river."

Guo Shao thought it was a good idea, so he asked Zuo You to write a letter of counseling, seal it, and send it across the river to contact the magistrate.

He and Zhou Duanzheng were talking excitedly, but they were interrupted just now, so they brought up the topic again, hoping to hear more opinions from the civil servants. He said casually, "The foreign invaders rose in the northeast, and the Central Plains lost the dark clouds. We can only rely on this barrier to defend. Fortunately, we have a large number of people..."

Unexpectedly, Zhou Duan didn't give Guo Shao face at all, with a sneering expression on his face: "There are many people?"

Seeing this, the companion next to him was also interested to see how Zhou Duan ended up. Everyone seemed to have had enough along the way. This guy didn't come here alone (in fact, he was caught at the beginning), but he always looked very proud.

But Guo Shao was not angry about what to do with Zhou Duan. Instead, he looked modest and asked curiously, "Aren't there the most Han people?"

Zhou Duan sneered and said, "If you compare only by tribal blood, the Han people are probably the most. But, the Han people in Shu, Tang, Northern Han and other places, can Tokyo command; even Wuyue, Nanping and other places, they may not use it as they want. And there are many Han people in Youyun in Liao, the old place of Bohai, etc. Who are those people helping?

I'm not wrong. Before the Battle of Huainan, there were only more than 900,000 households in the Zhou Dynasty. Even if some people didn't keep records, there were not many of them... At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a hundred years of melee, and decades after the Tang Dynasty was destroyed. This is the only number in the world. The emperor of the current Zhou Dynasty is governed by culture and martial arts, and the government is clear and clear, but the emperor and his officials can't change their mouths. "

Guo Shao didn't refute, because he didn't know the specific data, and he didn't ask the courtiers specifically. He is a military commander, and those things have little to do with him for the time being... And with his intuition that he took for granted, he never thought that the population of the Han people was a problem. In modern society, there is too much family planning; in ancient times, underpopulation was a big problem.

Zhou Duan continued: "In the Liao Kingdom, there are not only Khitan people, but also Xi, Bohai, Han, Datar, Jurchen, Five Kingdoms, Daluguo... many tribes, most of the tribes surrendered to and served the Liao Kingdom. The number of Khitan people may not be as large as the Han people; but if it is compared with the Liao Kingdom and the Zhou Dynasty, it is obvious that there are more people in the Liao Kingdom, not even a little bit more. Only the old land of the Bohai Kingdom should have millions of people (three provinces in the east, the coast of Russia, and the sixteen prefectures of Youyun). It is also a densely populated place, and its territory is comparable to the Hebei area controlled by the Zhou Dynasty; but how many Hebei areas are there in Dazhou?

It is rumored that Liao's standing army can immediately mobilize 300,000 cavalry, and if it is a long-term battle, it can use tribal soldiers and recruit troops. Liao's control of millions of strings is not just bragging. Can the Zhou Dynasty have a million troops? How many troops does the imperial army have? "

After hearing this, Yang Biao shouted: "This guy is from the Southern Tang Kingdom. The Southern Tang Dynasty has colluded with the Khitan before. Could it be a spy! Letting other people's ambition destroy their own prestige!"

"Haha..." Zhou Duan raised his head and laughed, pointing at Yang Biao and laughing endlessly, "What did I say just now, Shu Kingdom and Southern Tang Dynasty are all Han Chinese, can the court of Daliang in Tokyo use it?"

Guo Shao said: "Second brother, don't talk nonsense." He turned his head and said to Zhou Duan, "You didn't say that when you came back last time."

Zhou Duan stopped laughing and said calmly: "I couldn't finish talking about Youzhou last time, so naturally I didn't talk about Bohai and other places."

Guo Shaodao: "According to Mr. Zhou's words, our Zhou Dynasty attacked the Liao Kingdom, and its strength is actually weaker than that of the Liao Kingdom?"

"It's self-evident." Zhou Duan said bluntly, "General Guo is a general under the emperor's command. Don't you know why the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty has such a great reputation? He dared to fight the Liao Kingdom, but he used the weak to attack the strong. Thinking about the battle of Gaoping, Yang Gun from the Liao Kingdom led 50,000 partial troops, plus the Northern Han Army, which was more than Zhou's soldiers; even so, the Emperor Zhou even fought to Jinyang... In this Northern Expedition, the Zhou Dynasty had a total of hundreds of thousands of elites who could fight, and there was no more. The Liao Kingdom controls millions of strings. The emperor of the Great Zhou dared to attack, this is his prestige and strength."

Guo Shao couldn't help but shudder when he heard this. He was reminded that China's survival pressure has reached such an unbearable level in this era; the rise of surrounding hostile tribes has become overwhelming. He didn't pay attention to these issues before, but now after listening to Zhou Duan's detailed explanation, he suddenly realized that the strength has changed a long time ago, it's just that the north of Youzhou is too far away for ordinary people to see, and knowledgeable people don't want to talk about it.

It is actually the luck of the country to be able to get to where it is now. If the luck is a little bit unlucky, it is not impossible to get to the point where it is chaotic.

The later Song Dynasty has been passively beaten, unable to control the rise of the surrounding tribes in turn, just under the unstoppable trend... The Khitan and Jurchens took turns to dominate, and later the Mongols even looted the world. Probably the Central Plains Dynasty was powerless to deal with the situation in this era;

Guo Shao felt a little depressed for a while.

What Zhou Duan said may be exaggerated, but his judgment is quite credible. Since the Jin Dynasty, the Central Plains has been threatened by the Khitan, and the Jin Dynasty itself was conquered by the Liao Kingdom; the rulers of each dynasty were like sharp swords hanging over their heads. In recent years, the Liao Kingdom has been experiencing civil strife, and the Battle of Gaoping also made the Zhou Dynasty feel the threat of life and death... If the Liao Kingdom did not have the strength, how could it do these things?

When Guo Shao looked back, he saw a group of people on the road approaching the Hutuo River. The group of people he saw was the left wing of the Hu Jie army under his command. Immediately, he sighed a little, and looked back at the crowd and said: "I always thought that 'China' is very big and has many people, but we can see that the 20,000 people are already one eighth of the elite of 'China';

All the generals just now listened to Zhou Duan's "scaremongering" remarks, and they looked serious at the moment, clasping their fists in agreement. Dong Zunxun said loudly: "I would like to follow Uncle Guo's command and strive to become stronger."

Guo Shaodao: "I think of the glory of the Qin, Han, and Tang Dynasties, and the coming of all nations. 'China' has always been a prosperous and civilized country with four directions. It is the largest country in the world, but today it has fallen to the ground! I hope that one day our country can regain its strength and restore its former glory."

Zhou Duan and Zuo You listened to Guo Shao, a general, speak clearly and logically, and they also felt admiration at the moment.

... Not long after, Qizhou sent people to the army, saying that a pontoon bridge had been built upstream to wait. Guo Shao sent the general of the scout battalion to ask, but said he didn't find it.

Immediately, the local officials in Qizhou were asked to lead the way, the vanguard army went first, and the main army followed behind to cross the river. There was only one bridge that was not very wide, and 20,000 people could not cross the river with their luggage that day, so Guo Shao had to order to set up camp by the river and wait.

In the afternoon, the governor of Qizhou came to the Chinese army to pay his respects. He nodded and bowed very submissively. Guo Shao's official position is Jiedushi, followed by defense envoys and regiment training envoys, and then the rank of governor. In terms of grade, it is actually a few levels higher than that of Qizhou governor.

The governor said: "There are few huts in Qizhou City, and there are not so many vacant houses for the imperial army to live in. According to Shangfeng's intention, we transferred the local county and county people to build ten camps near the north bank of the Hutuo River. We can only wrong Marshal Guo and the brothers of the imperial army to station outside the city. The camp is located in the northeast.

After Guo Shao heard this, he thought that the local officials might not be too willing to station a large army in the city; especially the imperial army had no one to restrain them, they were afraid that the people in the city would be bullied and cause conflicts and troubles. It is inconvenient to compete with Qizhou Inspector and other officials at the moment, so I agree to be stationed in the He'an Military Village first.