Chapter 31: Dismounting and Promoting

Guo Wei followed the Zheng family to the hall. The hall was brightly lit. The guests looked at Guo Wei like a monkey leaping out of the forest. Guo Wei seemed to have not seen them. He walked in with great strides. Whether it was because of his clothes, temperament or his location, Guo Wei suddenly saw Zheng Ji who was pouring wine for the Heshe and came over to salute.

"Minister of the militia, Guo Wei, have asked the official Zhengda."

Zheng Ji looked at the man who didn't even have military uniforms and smiled and said, "Are you a lieutenant? Why are you wearing casual clothes?" His smile was not as rude as other guests. At the same time, Zheng Ji also noticed Guo Wei's sword - this sword was "lent" to Guo Wei by Zhang Mai. The top leaders of the Tiance Army were simplicity. The scabbard was not decorated with jewels and gold, but the leather material selection and cutting skills were first-class. A vision like Zheng Ji could see it all at once.

Guo Wei said: "I am a militia now, so I don't have military uniforms."

"In Tiance, military and businessmen are divided into different routes and cannot collude," Zheng Ji said: "What are you doing when you come to me today?"

Guo Wei said: "The military and military discipline in the government are strict, and the militia are between the soldiers and the civilians. If you have any questions, you should ask the local charity chief to help you."

"Help? What do you want me to help you?"

Guo Wei said: "I have organized militias to go to the lower reaches of the Macheng River to fight against the rebels. At present, there are insufficient weapons, unprepared war horses, and insufficient military rations, so I hope that the officials of Zhengda can donate to borrow."

Zheng Ji asked, "How much do you want?"

Guo Wei said: "Three hundred swords, three hundred spears, one hundred bows and arrows, five hundred horses, and five hundred people for three months of food."

Zheng Jiha smiled and said, "It's really funny. It's okay to forget about horses and grains, as long as I don't leave the country, I can take them out, but I'm a businessman, but I can't get so many swords, spears, bows and arrows."

Guo Wei said: "Weapons are just temporarily borrowed, and I think the official Zheng Daquan will have a solution."

Zheng Ji smiled even more: "Even if there is a way, why do I just want to help you?"

Guo Wei said: "The business of the great officials is spread all over Liangzhou, and there are thieves in Liangbei. Are the great officials of Zheng unwilling to share the responsibility at all?"

Zheng Jidao: "There are soldiers in quelling the rebellion, but we are just merchants."

Guo Wei said: "Officers, soldiers and militia have their own responsibilities and their own uses. The officers and soldiers resist foreign aggression and suppress the great enemy. These gangs are just small thieves, so the marshal handed over to the militia. Hexi is a martial arts land, and there are few Dingkou. Only when the soldiers and civilians are integrated can they dominate the world. The soldiers and civilians are too divided, and those who are in the army are overwhelmed. If they are in the army for a long time and fight for the people, they will gradually become weak, and it is not a good thing for the country or the people."

Zheng Ji smiled and said, "When you are in the country and the people, you are tying the world, it is not what you say." He said such words in person, which was a very serious insult. After hearing this, the guests helped to laugh.

Guo Wei said: "Since the Zheng Da official is stingy with paying money, I will go find someone else."

Zheng Ji looked slightly angry and shouted, "Come back!" After calling Guo Wei, he said, "What did you say, I'm stingy with paying money? It's because you are not worthy of my payment!"

Guo Wei said: "Is it worth it? Is it worth it? I am the marshal's personal lieutenant, so what's wrong? I'm still just stingy with money. The wealth is gathering, and the wealth is dispersed, and people gathering. I don't want to pay when there is nothing to do. When there is something to do, I'm afraid I can't respond to it." As soon as I asked for a gift, I said: "Good."

Turning around and leaving without hesitation at all. Zheng Ji was shocked by his newly broken courage and shouted again: "Come back!" He looked at Guo Wei again and said, "You want to borrow money and grain from me. Since you say the word "borrow", what should I pay me back afterwards?"

Guo Wei said: "If you take money and food from officials, you will win, and if you don't win, you will donate bones on the battlefield."

Zheng Ji said: "How many people do you have on hand now? Are you sure to win the gang of rebels from the Xiu Tu tribe?"

Guo Wei said: "There are now two hundred elite soldiers."

Zheng Ji said in surprise: "Two hundred people? I heard that there are thousands of people in the Xiu Tu department!"

"The number of people is not a problem," Guo Wei said: "I just lack money and food. If I have it, it will be not difficult to destroy the slaughter and the slaughter department."

Zheng Ji pondered, looked at the sword around Guo Wei's waist and said, "I can help you, but money and food are easy, but weapons..."

Hesheli suddenly said: "If the great official is willing to pay, I will help you find a way to find a way."

Zheng Ji didn't expect that Hesheli would take the initiative to help, and he was even more surprised and thought: "The marshal's conduct is unpredictable. Guo Wei is not an ordinary person. Since he has this appointment, he is afraid that there is another meaning in it! Hesheli may have received some news." Then he said: "Okay! I'll pay the money and food! You can hand over it tomorrow."

All the guests were stunned. Guo Wei was not happy or surprised. He bowed again and said, "Okay, then I'll come again tomorrow."

Hexi is not as good as the Central Plains. The people can retain weapons, but they only have to accept the supervision of the government. Therefore, there are many weapons among the people. Hesheli had the background of militia leaders. Guo Wei was appointed by Zhang Mai, and he was justified in doing things. The next day, Zheng Ji indeed prepared money and food, but it took three days for Heshelili to collect all the weapons and horses.

Some guests who attended the meeting that night thought about Zheng Ji's intentions and believed that there must be something strange about it. Seven or eight people also paid for the money and food, and made banners. Therefore, when these two hundred people set off from Liangzhou, flags were fluttering, swords and horses were all equipped, and there were many gongs and drums. They had become a militia, but they did not have a unified military uniform. Liangzhou was mostly scattered and brave, and human nature was all inclined to the flames. As the militia gradually became more powerful, more than a hundred people came to join in.

Mingweizhu was traveling in the middle of the Macheng River. Guo Wei led more than 300 people to Mingweizhu. The money and grain were tied to rafts and went downstream. The usefulness of the militia was that this group of people could serve both soldiers and do hard work, and all the affairs were completed by these 300 people. Mingweizhu was an old castle left during the Tang Dynasty and was part of the Great Wall. The Great Wall was damaged a lot, and the people's strength of the Tiance Army could not be repaired. As for Xiu Tuze, where Xiu Tu's troops were located, it was even further outside the Great Wall.

After Guo Wei arrived at Mingwei, he surveyed the surrounding terrain, and then led 300 militias to keep the granary for unknown years. He moved out the moldy grains that had been forgotten before the Tang army arrived here, mixed some soil, and built them in the broken area of ​​the Mingwei Fortress Wall. Guo Wei was working and organized the army. At that time, the weather was cold. He trained militias in the morning and led the crew to work in the afternoon. During the day, the flags given by merchants were filled with Mingwei Fortress. At night, the bonfires were lit. The flames made Mingwei Fortress a landmark of dozens of miles.

Ding Hao and Tian An asked when they would go to fight the Xiu Tu Department. Guo Wei said: "Don't worry, they will come to their door when the time comes."

The weather gradually became colder, and more than 100 herders nearby who did not rebel with the Xiu Tu Ministry saw that the walls of Mingwei were intact and came in to shelter the wind. Guo Wei used the grain as a temptation and organized them, asking his men to help with defense and women to help with logistics, which liberated many people.

After the wall was repaired, the military training came to an end. Militia training was different from the government training, and the requirements were much simpler. The government training required soldiers to use weapons according to the correct moves - that was the method formed by the army over thousands of years of accumulation. It taught soldiers these methods to reshape their various behaviors, but the militia only followed the course. Guo Wei mainly equipped the soldiers with weapons, but only taught them to obey orders, and inspired them to do their best to fight with their existing abilities.

A month had passed, and the incident of a militia stationed in Mingwei's garrison gradually became known to the Liangbei tribes. However, seeing that Guo Wei was well organized, no tribe dared to commit lightly, and Guo Wei did not go deep into the rebels to take the initiative to attack.

Ding Hao couldn't hold back his anger and said, "Captain, our military rations are getting less and less. The marshal gave us another three months. Can we still live here for the rest of our lives?"

Guo Wei said, "Don't worry." At this time, he had already divided his men during the day, with a team of hundreds of people, two teams went out to patrol, one team went out to fish and grazed, so as to increase the ingredients of Mingweishu. He also asked the women to burn soil and make dozens of stoves, and sent dozens of militia to cut firewood and burn charcoal.

The lower reaches of the Namacheng River are divided into two branches and merge into two inland lakes, one is Xiu Tuze and the other is Baitinghai. The two inland lakes are surrounded by the paradise of the Liangbei nomadic tribes grazing in summer, about 200 miles away from Mingwei Shu.

However, after the beginning of winter, the river water gradually became frozen. In the past, nomadic herders near Xiutuze had to go south to escape from winter. Now that they launched a rebellion, they had to go south to rob.

On that day, Guo Wei left the fort and saw that all the grass outside the fort had frozen to death, he said to Ding Hao: "It's almost done." But he ordered the defense to relax and the flags were put away, but dozens of people were still sent out to look around every day.

Three days later, Tian An returned and said, "Today, a group of herders broke to the edge of the Great Wall and went back after seeing us."

Guo Wei said: "They will most likely come tonight!" He asked everyone to rest in the afternoon. After nightfall, he set up a bonfire. Every ten soldiers leaned against a charcoal stove and installed gongs and drums everywhere, so that women and children could stay next to the gongs and drums.

After the third update, more than a thousand rebels approached quietly. When the bonfire in Mingwei was gradually extinguished, someone climbed over from the lower walls. Mingwei was just a small fortress on the border. In some places, the walls were only seven or eight feet high, which was not considered a city wall, so they could climb over. After these people came in, they found that the fort was quiet. Some people on night were hiding in the house and fell asleep. They were overjoyed and went to open the door. More than a thousand people rushed in, and the sword spear slashed towards the Tiance militia who was closest to sleeping in the corner of the wall. The tentacle felt strange and was shocked when they lit the torch. But they were all straw men under the sheepskin!

"I've been fooled!" shouted the rebel leader.

At this moment, the lights of the entire Mingweishu were lit up, followed by gongs and drums from all directions. The old men and children were lit up the torches, and the women were ringing the gongs and drums. The sound of the fire made people feel that there were soldiers and horses everywhere in Mingweishu. I don’t know how many people were! Guo Wei led four or five hundred people out of the inner castle, and the rebels were in chaos!

The Tiance militia all covered the charcoal furnace with their hands in the house, so their hands and feet were soft and powerful. The rebels were frozen outside in the middle of the night, and their hands and feet became stiff. They were not even able to move during the war! In addition, people were panic and could not fight at all.

Guo Wei waved the horizontal knife that Zhang Mai used to slash over, and the force could not be fully exerted in the cold, but in the same way, as long as a cut is made in the cold, the cold wind blows in, it will be like someone constantly cutting the wound with a knife! In this environment, unless they are particularly fierce or strictly trained elite soldiers, they are very likely to lose their combat effectiveness.

The rebels screamed, some fell to the ground, some fled, and some surrendered, and the battle situation was completely one-sided. In the past month, Guo Wei had already divided the militia into three groups, middle and lower. The upper soldiers had the strongest combat effectiveness, with about fifty people. On this cold night, they fought hard, and with the help of various favorable conditions, they were enough to defeat the thousand rebels. More than a hundred soldiers rushed to help with the war, and the subordinates helped to suppress those who had not yet surrendered and collected prisoners. The way Guo Wei thought of was easy, and he didn't use ropes to tie them up. He just rushed up and took off the rebel's clothes. The cold wind thrust his hands and feet stiff, and his whole body immediately curled up. Even if he wanted to resist, he had no choice.

Guo Wei led the people to fight in front of him, and the middle soldiers took the center to take care of him, while the lower soldiers rushed the rebels who had taken off their clothes to the prepared large rooms. At first, they pushed and shoved hard. Later, there were more and more people in the room, and they could hide from the wind. People could keep warm with each other. Those who surrendered and injured were evading the cold wind like swords and guns, jumped into the house like sheep, stuffing a room, and the iron chain trapped 180 people, and twelve rooms were chained.

Ding Hao rode his horse with Guo Wei for more than ten miles and came back. The next afternoon, he waited until the next afternoon to release the prisoners. The people squeezed in the house for a night and hungry for another night. After one afternoon, their hands and feet were already sore and they could not resist.

Tian Hao counted more than 900 people. After fighting last night, many injured and captured prisoners, but not many died. Many children saw more than 900 men squatting naked on the ground and laughed.

The militia stood around with swords. Guo Wei looked around and shouted, "The Marshal is not bad to you, why do you rebel?"

How much knowledge can these herdsmen have? Look at me, I look at you, some cry, some beg for mercy, and some say, "It's not our business, it's the patriarch who wants to rebel." But a few extremely fierce people are still scolding there.

Ding Hao was furious and pulled out the few still yelling and scolding people and chopped them up. The others were frightened when they saw it. How could they dare to say another word?

Guo Wei said: "Now there are two ways for you to go. One is to turn back to the right and regain allegiance to the Tiance army. The second is..." He pointed to the ground: "They are role models!"

Hundreds of people said, "We dare not betray us either. We are willing to obey the general's orders, and we are willing to obey the general's orders."

Guo Wei ordered them to identify the original leaders, and they identified more than 20 people, and they were all locked up. The others broke up and reorganized them, and sent them to Xiu Tuze. Four hundred militiamen rode horses, nine hundred surrendered prisoners walked, and more than a thousand people walked in the cold wind for five days. Some surrendered prisoners pointed to the front and said, "It's here!"

The winter in Liangbei came very early. Guo Wei looked up and couldn't help but gasp. He saw a huge lake in a radius of nearly a hundred miles. At this time, the surface had frozen into ice skin. At first glance, it looked like a mirror. Dozens of tents stood sparsely by the lake.

The ice cream obviously had no explanation. Some ragged women were smashing the water with stones to fish. A few saw the people here and ran away in surprise. Soon there were people in the tents that kept running away. The man rode his horse to the northeast, and the woman cried and followed behind.

Ding Hao shouted: "Captain, I will take people to chase them!"

Suddenly, someone from the prisoners behind him started to cry. Guo Wei turned around and asked, "Why are you crying?"

The captive captive said, "Where is my mother?"

As soon as he opened his mouth, dozens of prisoners cried, some said that my mother was there, some said that his wife was in front of him, and Guo Wei said, "Why are you crying, go and call them over, I will take you back to Liangzhou to live."

The captives were overjoyed and rushed out and shouted. Among the escaped crowds, there were those who looked here. As a result, many women ran back desperately when they saw them screaming. The mother and son hugged each other, making more than a thousand people cry bitterly. Guo Wei stepped forward and said, "Since you know today, why bother to the beginning? Don't cry. Now that you have met, as long as you don't have any other intentions in the future, go south with me, and you will still have a good life to wait."

The dozens of captives then brought their mother, wife and children to bow to Guo Wei.

On that day, more than a thousand people were stationed in the tent by the lake. The next day, two or three hundred brave prisoners came to knelt down and begged Guo Wei to ask them to go back to pick up their families.

"Please ask us to go, we will definitely come back."

Tian Andao: "Captain, be careful that they are taking the opportunity to escape."

Guo Wei said, "I believe you, go, I'll wait for you here for two days. If I don't come back in two days, I will think you are running away."

The two or three hundred people went happily, either going northeast or northwest. Ding Hao asked Guo Wei how to advance next, and Guo Wei said, "No need to advance, just wait here."

After waiting for two days, there was no movement in the northeast, northwest, Tian An said: "Captain, I'm afraid that those of them will escape."

Guo Wei still didn't plan to move and said, "Wait for another day, there should be good news. The weather is so cold now, and those betrayals have been scared again. They want to go south to rob and pass by us. If they dare not fight with us, there will be no second way besides surrender."

On the third day, the wind blew harder and the weather became colder. Ding Hao Tianan was uneasy when the ground suddenly vibrated. Ding Hao shouted: "Enemy attack!"

He invited more than a thousand people to line up to meet the enemy, but saw more than 300 cavalry coming from the northeast. As he ran closer, a leader in his thirties turned over and bowed down and shouted: "Zuo Shan from Baiting's troops met with the Grand Tang Dynasty Captain Guo." He held up another head and said: "This is the head of Changsha Xin of the Xiutu tribe. We were confused for a moment and believed Sha Xin's bewitching. In fact, we had no intention of betraying Tiance the Tang Dynasty. We also asked the general to investigate clearly."

Ding Haotian'an was surprised and happy. Guo Wei walked out of the tent and said, "Are all your people here?"

Zuo Shandao: "These are men of this clan, and the rest of them guard the remnants of Shaxin in Baitinghai."

Guo Wei asked someone to take the head to see it, so that the herdsmen who recognize Shaxin could identify it correctly, and then said, "Since the evil spirit has been eliminated, I am thinking of your ignorance and the first offense, I will spare you one more time. I will return to Mingwei Shou now, and you will come to Mingwei Shou within ten days, both men, women, young and old, and come to Mingwei Shou to obey the orders and follow me to go south. At that time, I will ask the marshal to win you a place to live in winter. But if you fail to arrive over the deadline, I will lead the troops to slaughter the tribe and will not forgive you."

Zuo Shan hurriedly said, "I dare not, I dare not!"

Guo Wei said: "Go!"

Three hundred people from Baiting's troops kowtowed and left, Ding Hao said, "I'll go and stare at them."
Chapter completed!