Chapter 489 Will be sunny

Light smoke rose from the cauldron, and a layer of oil floated up. Gradually, the water began to boil, and the aroma overflowed, making the Yan troops around them stretch their necks to smell it.

Behind the camp is the place where the meat was slaughtered, and there are still blood stains on the ground.

The wind blew, and a few strands of hair were blown up, higher and higher, and floated near the Chinese army's tent. Faintly, it also blew the sounds of the Yan army's arguments, as if to say, "Give General Xie the meat between your breasts." Eat" and so on.

When Tian Chengsi strode into the tent, Cui Qianyou was looking at the map with his hands behind his hands. He turned around and saw him coming, and went to get a wine bag himself and threw it away.

"Did you get the food and grass?"

"We fell into a trap." Tian Chengsi said: "There is no food and grass at Pujin Ferry. They only have an ambush and let the Tang army kill hundreds of us."

As he spoke, he wiped the blood on his face before he started drinking. The blood was not left during the battle, but was caused by his execution of the defeated generals who had returned.

Cui Qianyou asked: "Where is the boat?"

"Even if we think about it, we know that without a boat, the Tang army just wants to trap us in the pass."

"I should have captured Chang'an then." Cui Qianyou's eyes were still ruthless.

"It sounds like it can be captured." Tian Chengsi did not feel that Cui Qianyou's decision was wrong. At that time, they divided their troops and Li Guangbi cut off the baggage line. If they continued to struggle under Chang'an City, I'm afraid the losses would not be small. , "Let's look at the present first. If we want to return to Fan Yang, the only way is to attack Tongguan, but Tongguan is heavily guarded."

"There's no rush." ​​Cui Qianyou said, "Let me think about how to fight the next battle."

"We ran into walls everywhere in Guanzhong, and even fought." Tian Chengsi complained, then touched the strong beard on his chin and said: "Our rebellion is not considered a defeat. At least we dethroned the old Hunjun from the throne, which is worth it."

The reason why he said this was because he already had a premonition that he would be at the end of his road. After paving the way, he said: "I thought that the conditions given by Li Heng were good, two Jiedushi positions, and still leading the troops under his command... It turned out to be a trap. You Say, was it Li Heng who tricked us, or Li Cong?"

Cui Qianyou's tone was cold and he said: "If you want to have good conditions for recruitment and surrender, you have to kill them ruthlessly and kill them until they are frightened. Otherwise, the Tang army will kill us 'evil leaders' and reorganize our troops." .”

"Morale of food and grass..."

"You don't have to worry about food and morale." Cui Qianyou said firmly, "There's more."

"We've already run out of wine, how many more can we have?" Tian Chengsi drank all the wine in his bag, turned around and took a look inside the tent, and asked, "Where are the maids in your tent?"

"It's used as military rations."

Tian Chengsi was stunned for a moment, and then said after a long time: "Don't give it to me to eat, or I will fall out with you."

Cui Qianyou was too lazy to pay attention to him and asked: "Did you say that Chang'an City started cannibalism?"

"Maybe."

"If Chang'an's food reserves run out, Li Guangbi will definitely want us to retreat and it will be impossible to hold Tongguan." Cui Qianyou said, "In other words, Chang'an City has food supplies."

Tian Chengsi asked: "From where?"

Cui Qianyou drew a mark on the map and made a guess. Then he looked at the time and closed his eyes without saying a word.

After a while, sentry horses came back one after another and reported the information they had obtained.

Among them, a sentinel reported: "The general has found out that the Tang army will transport a batch of grain and grass from the east of the river to Chang'an via Pujin Ferry in the next few days."

"Ha." Cui Qianyou sneered.

"Will the general... go explore again?"

"roll."

Wang Chengsi was impatient and kicked the sentry out. Since he had been fooled once, he would not fall for the second time.

Gradually, more information was obtained, and they pieced together Chang'an's supply situation from it.

"It's not hard to guess that it must be transporting grain from the Qinling Mountains."

"Let's go here."

Cui Qianyou pointed to his mark on the map, where there were three crooked characters that read "Shaoling Plateau".

~~

Solution County.

Now that Wang Jin is here, after meeting Xue Bai, he also goes out to meet a group of officials brought by Xue Bai. Only when he uses these people to govern Taiyuan can he completely fall over to the Peking King's party.

This group of officials are all very young. Among them, Yuan Jie, Yan Jiming, and Wang Jin are acquainted with each other. Although Wang Jin does not know the rest, he has heard a little about their talents.

"This is Chang Gun, a Jinshi for the twelfth year of Tianbao. He was originally the crown prince. Now he may be appointed as the chief registrar in Taiyuan County."

"I've met Wang Shaoyin."

"I have read his poems in the newspaper, and they are very good." Wang Jin commented casually, and then said to Xue Bai: "The King of Peiping ran a newspaper, and he discovered how many talents in the world he had discovered."

"Yes." Xue Bai was not humble and said as if joking: "Because of this newspaper, all the talented people in the world are among them."

Wang Jin felt a little embarrassed because he quoted Emperor Taizong's words. He did not dare to answer and looked at another person.

"Fifth Qi."

Xue Bai then continued to introduce a calm and taciturn middle-aged man who was over forty years old and said: "In the 14th year of Kaiyuan, Ming Jing became an official and held many important positions. He once helped Wei Jian to open water transportation. He was later implicated and demoted to the rank of beggar. Jiang County Magistrate, I recommended him to return to the court a few years ago to serve as an official. Now he will accompany Yuan Jie to Taiyuan as a deputy envoy, and he will definitely be of great help to Wang Shaoyin."

When Wang Jin saw that Wu Qi, although he had been demoted many times and had a low official position, he exuded a powerful and majestic air, he knew that this person was not a simple person.

Chang Gun just now was just a young man who had just entered the officialdom. Wang Jin still looked down upon him, but now he realized that the people Xue Bai arranged around him were all powerful people, which showed his determination to control Taiyuan Mansion.

"I have met Wang Shaoyin." Wu Qi was a very upright person. He stepped forward to meet Li and said, "The reason why I came to Hedong is to recommend myself to King Maosui of Beiping. The most important thing in the country today is to counter the rebellion, and the counterinsurgency teacher needs someone." Money and food. I think, apart from the Jianghuai River, the only way to pay for military expenses is to collect salt."

"No rush, no rush." ​​Wang Jin could feel Wu Qi's strength, waved his hand and said with a smile: "We'll talk about it after we take office."

Xue Bai promptly expressed his support for these officials, saying: "Chang'an's food cannot only rely on Shu County, but also needs support from Hedong. After the rebellion is over, the tax system must be reformed. After you take office, you must start measuring the acres of land. This rebellion brought back the hidden population of the wealthy gentry. You are all still very young, and you need to take a long-term view. The opportunity to make achievements lies not only in quelling the rebellion, but also in reforming the long-standing shortcomings."

Of course, according to the current situation, the rebellion is about to be put down soon, and the impact is not serious. Accordingly, we can make more adequate preparations for various subsequent reforms, and do not need to be too radical to reduce the innovation process. labor pains.

Xue Bai had high expectations for Hedong. Long before he became an official, he had already started to implement salt tax in Hedong when he was assisting Yang Wei as prime minister. Later, he retained Wang Zhongsi to guard Hedong. Now he came again to make Hedong a better place. It has completely become a basic place that can not only suppress the rebellion, but also protect Guanzhong and support Chang'an with some money and food.

"King Peiping, there is an urgent military situation!"

While talking, a messenger quickly walked in and handed a piece of information to Xue Bai's hand.

Wang Jin was very curious. Seeing Xue Bai unfolding the information, he asked, "But the battle situation has changed."

Perhaps in order to strengthen Wang Jin's confidence, Xue Bai did not hide it from him and said bluntly: "The rebels turned south."

"Attack Tongguan?"

"Looking at their movements, they are probably attacking the Shaoling Plain and seizing our army's food route."

Wang Jindao: "Should we send someone to remind Li Jieshuai immediately?"

"No need." Xue Bai said calmly, "This is still the plan Li Guangbi and I decided to lure the enemy."

Wang Jin raised his eyebrows slightly, his eyes really calmed down.

Xue Bai walked to the map, pointed to the south of Chang'an, and said: "Shaoling Plateau borders Chang'an to the north, Ziwu Valley of Qinling Mountains to the south, Yinghe River to the west, and Shenhe Plain to the east. The terrain is low in the north and high in the south. The rebels want to To cut off our food route, we can only attack from the northeast and attack the hillside from above, and the terrain here is complex, which is not conducive to cavalry attacks."

"Li Jieshuai wants to have a decisive battle with him?"

"No." Xue Bai said: "When the rebels arrive, our army will retreat into Ziwu Valley."

"What about Chang'an grain?"

"When the rebels attack the Shaoling Plain with all their strength, I will personally supervise the transportation of a batch of grain and grass from Hedong to Chang'an."

Wang Jin said: "The terrain along this road is flat. What if the rebels learn of the movement in advance?"

"I have deliberately spread the word and told them." Xue Bai said: "If they believe it, they will send more sentries. But I guess, after the previous ambush at Pujin Ferry, they will not believe it. Pujin It's not far to cross to Chang'an, and the chance to rob me is fleeting."

"But how much food and grass can be transported like this?"

"Don't ask for more. It's enough to wait until An Qingxu escapes from Luoyang and Cui Qianyou's army is shattered. By then the rebels will be trapped in the complex terrain of the Qinling Mountains. Our army will only need to seize Shenheyuan to eat them."

Wang Jin looked at the map for a long time, bowed his head and said: "We are lucky to have the King of Peiping and Li Jie to make plans."

~~

When Xue Bai returned to the post house, it was already very dark.

There is a wall between his residence and Li Tengkong's courtyard, and a wind chime hangs on the eaves of the wall. The wind chime usually does not ring because Xue Bai stuffed a strip of cloth inside, and he took it off after he came back.

When I clicked it, it made a crisp sound.

The bell rang three times. There was no candle light in the room over there, but Jiaonu's snoring could be faintly heard. Xue Bai was still very familiar with this. When he was in Du's house, Jiaonu slept in the common room and not only snored.

He snores and has the habit of talking in his sleep.

But after waiting for a long time, Li Tengkong still didn't come out.

"Asleep?"

Xue Bai muttered to himself and went back to the house to sleep.

At midnight, he heard movement in a daze, opened his eyes, and saw Li Tengkong tiptoeing over with his shoes in hand under the moonlight. His sneaky appearance was very different from the calm and gentle look of the past.

Because he had experienced what happened to the Du sisters, he gained wisdom every time. When the soft body entered the bed, he first asked: "Didn't you hear the bell just now?"

"Suppressed by Ji Lanzi."

Xue Bai clamped her cold feet with his calves and covered her. He measured her height with his body and confirmed that it was Li Tengkong.

Yes, otherwise, who else could it be? He secretly thought that he was too suspicious.

"Speaking of which, they all know about our relationship, so why bother?"
To be continued...