Chapter 174 Meeting

The north wind blows violently, and winter snow falls.

Zheng Wei was also looking forward to the arrival of this heavy snow. Because no war could save a lot of military spending. He calculated that the military rations in Hexi could still be dealt with before the autumn harvest next year, but the money was still tight. Now the western front has stabilized and India's trade routes are open. However, if tariff benefits really occur, it will only start next summer and gradually become regular until the end of next year. Of course, the successive military victory of the Tiance army has made Zheng Wei have the upper hand in negotiating with the major merchants. Now, merchants in the entire Central Plains are optimistic about Tiance, and many people are willing to make this political investment.

At the same time, most of the 60,000 soldiers in the Eastern Expedition had retreated to the Guzang Grassland before the heavy snow. The Guzang Grassland was only 200 miles away from Ulan Fort, and in a few days the main forces of the Tang army retreated. Ulan Fort only left Dou Jiannan as the defense. As for the Taonan area, Zhang Mai temporarily handed over the defense power to Zhang Xichong and Li Yiyin, and asked General Yang Zezhong to lead the post-war resettlement work in the entire Hetao area.

Guzang Grassland is the place where the Tang army trained. Yang Xin and Zhe Congshi once grew up here. All combat facilities, training facilities and living facilities on the grassland are very complete, and there are enough heating stoves in winter. In addition, there are houses to avoid the cold. The facilities are simple, but everything they should be. In addition, medical doctors are also complete.

The heavy snow blocked the mountain roads, making long-range marching difficult, but it also gave the Tang army a chance to completely relax.

There were laughter everywhere on the Guzang grassland. Although there was wind and snow, the bonfire offset the cold. The hot pasta, lamb, beef, wine, and water were delivered at a price.

The bonfire shines not only with men's laughter, but also with women and children. After the victory of the Tiger Pond, Zhang Mai passed the order. Xu's elite soldiers' wives, children, relatives, and lovers came to the Guzang grassland to wait for their husbands and fathers. Therefore, although in the wind and snow at this time, the whole grassland was happy, and some dark places were even full of spring love. How long did the men on the front line hold on and how long did the women on the rear endure to vent their vents in this winter.

Zhang Mai sat drunkenly surrounded by tens of thousands and half drunk soldiers. Several children were playing next to him, all of whom were the children of trusted soldiers. Among them were Zhang Mai's eldest daughter and Yang Xin's eldest son. The boy was named Yang Chonggui. He was very strong. Although he was young, he had already seen his father's character. Zhang Mai was happy to see him and almost wanted to marry Yang Xin.

At this time, Lao Yang Dingguo arrived.

Yang Dingguo came to Guzang Grassland with good news and questions.

The good news is that more than half of the 300,000 people brought by Zhe Congyuan have arrived in Yizhou, while the others are placed in Guazhou, Suzhou and Ganzhou respectively. The order is still good and there is no chaos. For the Tiance regime, under the current technical conditions, it is really a great joy to have such a large-scale population migration without chaos.

As for the question, it was because Yang Dingguo had been so long that he really couldn't figure out where Zhang Mai's 30,000 elite soldiers came from.

Zhang Mai laughed and said, "When Guo Wei arrived in Liangzhou in January before. When I was still on the road, he had already guessed my thoughts from my orders and mobilized militias, Muqi and new recruits from Gan, Su and Liang to gather together in Guzang grassland, and a total of 30,000 to 40,000 people. Among the elite and militia leaders and engineers in the Western Expedition, some of them were very physically strong. After a month of rest, they could act, and these people became backbones. It was through these people that Guo Wei organized 30,000 to 40,000 people. It was impossible to train these new soldiers, militias and Muqi into elite soldiers in a short time, but there were a group of elite backbones who trained them to advance and retreat properly, and then equipped with weapons and armor from regular elite troops, it was still possible to use them to bluff people."

Zhang Mai laughed at this point: "Of course, some of the elite troops and the ones who took the lead have recovered their energy, which has come in handy. The crooked bows and arrows in the Battle of Tiger Slope that day were shot by fake elites, and later those fierce and accurate catapults were made by real elites!"

When the people and the others heard this, they praised Yang Ding Guodao: "I also thought of this. But if these militia, Muqi, and new recruits pretended to be elite, then their positions would be empty. When they set out, in addition to these fake elite soldiers, there were tens of thousands of militia, Muqi, new recruits, and knights on the periphery, and these people could not fall from the sky."

Cao Yuanzhong also said: "Yes, I thought of this at the beginning, but because of the wrong number, I dare not suspect that it was a fake elite."

Zhang Mai laughed: "It's quite troublesome to pretend to be elite troops. It's much easier for elite troops to work overtime in militia and horse cavalry."

Yang Dingguo was stunned and said, "Those peripheral soldiers..."

"They are all elite soldiers of the Western Expedition!" Zhang Mai smiled and said, "They are not very energetic, but they can still keep moving. They are outsiders, and it doesn't matter if they are seen to be in a bad mood. Besides, these are all veterans of Lao Yu's battle formation. If I pass the order, they will naturally know how to pretend. Only Guo Wei, Yang Xin, and Zhe Congshi know completely about this matter. I also know that Khitan and Xiao Tang have installed a lot of detailed works in my Lianglan area, so I deliberately hide their own people."

Cao Yuanzhong and others were amazed when they heard this. Yang Ding Guodao: "The Marshal uses strange things, and no one in the world can match it! Just use empty troops to fight a strong enemy. The battle in the tiger slope is actually very dangerous."

Zhang Mai said: "So I still need two elite troops that can charge into battle. There must be fierce local battles, otherwise the Khitans would not easily believe that our troops are strong! Fortunately, the temporary recruitment of two surprise soldiers did not disappoint my expectations. In fact, in the Battle of Taonan, I did not plan to fully bloom with Yelu Shuo from the beginning. Because the troops that can truly reverse the success or failure of the Hetao battle are not in Lianglan, but in Lingzhou and Xiazhou, so the most important thing is to boost morale, so that Zhang Xichong and Li Yiyin have hope for us, and at the same time create favorable combat opportunities for the troops in Lingzhou and Xiazhou, so the purpose is to achieve - it can be said that this is a political action, not a military action."

At this point, Yang Dingguo also admired himself.

The winter of the fifth year of Tiance was very cold, but the soldiers on the Guzang grassland were completely relaxed - physically to psychologically. After dozens of days of cultivation, after the beginning of the spring of the sixth year of Tiance, many people were already alive, but the 20,000-mile expedition in the west was too tiring. Even the elite troops were not able to recover. Therefore, Zhang Mai did not immediately start the military operation, but mobilized them in batches to try to keep the soldiers resting.

However, the two magical arrow battalions on the left and right have been fully restored. Yang Xin and Zhe Congshi's old subordinates have also recovered their physical strength. Guo Wei has integrated a group of new recruits. This group of veterans were resting this winter, but the new recruits continued to step up training. The number of new recruits was about 7,000. Guo Wei selected half of them, and organized them by a group of veterans who had recovered their energy as the backbone to collect 4,000. In addition, Yang Xin, Zhe Congshi's elite cavalry were two thousand, and each of the two magical arrow battalions on the left and right was one thousand, which was a total of ten thousand cavalry!

It was February of the sixth year of Tiance. With these 10,000 cavalry (two thousand of them were riding and shooting), Zhang Mai was very energetic and laughed: "Why do you need 30,000 people? If there were such 10,000 people last winter! I wouldn't have to make any mystery about Yelu Shuogu!"

Immediately sent an order to ask Zhang Xichong, the governor of Shuofang Army, and Li Yiyin, the governor of Dingnan Army, to command 20,000 elite troops to Luguan to meet with each other on March 15, 20,000.

Luguan is located in northern Shaanxi, which is the old pass of the Great Wall. This is the place where the Later Tang Dynasty prevented the Dangxiang people. Zhang Mai actually chose this sensitive place to meet, which was obviously intended to provoke the nerves of all parties!

When the news reached the east, Zhang Xichong was the first to receive the order. Li Yiyin hesitated for a moment and agreed. The strangest thing was that the defenders of Lu Pass quietly retreated under the order of the governor of Zhangwu. When Lu Jialing's spies arrived, they were empty.

The information was sent back to Guzang Grassland, and Zhang Mai smiled and said, "It seems that the vassal states in Guanzhong have no intention of resisting me."

Lu Jialing smiled and said, "Last winter, many people were looking forward to the marshal who could take advantage of the victory to enter Chang'an!"

Zhang Mai said: "Don't be too anxious to enter Chang'an. Besides, last winter we had limited power, and the main force was a virtual soldier. The virtual soldier should be quiet rather than moving. If it moves too much, it will easily reveal flaws, which will give people an opportunity to take advantage of it. Unlike now, every few days, there will be more elite troops in Guzang grassland to restore combat power. By summer, there will be soldiers and horses in the West to arrive continuously. At that time, our army was very powerful, from northern Shaanxi or from Longyou, or two routes were advancing together, and with a force of a thousand pounds, people would dare not resist or be lucky. At that time, the soldiers could be conquered Guanzhong without bloodshed!"

Cao Yuanzhong said: "Marson is wise! Now, there are no less than fifty soldiers who are secretly sending letters to the Guanzhong area. Even in Hanzhong and Bashu, there are many people secretly engaging in secret with us. Now, just waiting for the Marshal's flag to erect, Guanzhong will definitely not fight! Even if there are still a few who are unaware of the general trend and want to resist, they are definitely not our opponents!"

Zhang Mai said: "I heard that Guanzhong has experienced many wars since the end of the Tang Dynasty, but now it is ruined. They are all descendants of the Han family and descendants of the Tang Dynasty. It is better not to fight. Their own family is not a hero! If possible, we must try our best to retain vitality for Guanzhong."

After hearing all the generals responded, "Yes!"

Ten thousand troops took action. Except for a small number of accompanying civil servants, all of them were immediately generals, and even the civil servant team, they all required to be able to accompany them on horseback. While gradually establishing the civil servant group's status within the regime, Zhang Mai also brought in a martial spirit.

At this time, Wei Renpu had recovered from his illness, but Zhang Mai still brought Fan Zhi, and let Wei Renpu enter Liangzhou to become Zheng Wei's deputy, in charge of the aftermath of the Western Expedition, the migration and resettlement of 600,000 residents, and civil affairs that match the military operations to be carried out in the next "Western Defense and East Offensive" strategy - all of this will happen between Hezhong, Ningyuan, Kucha, Luntai and Liangzhou. It is a very difficult comprehensive government affairs incident. If Wei Renpu can handle this incident well, then even the complex government affairs in the future will not be difficult for him.

After entrusting all the government affairs in the northwest to Zheng Wei, Wei Renpu and Zhang Yi, Zhang Mai led the Wan *** army to march eastward.

Each of the ten thousand cavalrymen brought more than two war horses. The deputy immediately stayed in a small light tent, and a bag of special dry food on the buttocks - that was wartime food, composed of pressed dried meat jerky and pressed pasta. A small pack was enough to make a soldier full for ten days. In other words, this 10,000 cavalry can completely ignore the issue of supply within ten days - as long as there is water.

Such a cavalry combination without baggage will naturally move very quickly, and it is easy to travel a hundred miles a day. It is fully competent for reconnaissance, ambush, surprise attack or attack. With this kind of elite soldiers, marching within the territory, etc., if you go out in spring, you will be able to leave the country. In addition to specific dangerous terrain and famous city fortresses, you can simply do not keep your troops!

Last year, Zhang Mai asked Guo Wei to command the "60,000 troops" and worked diligently along the way. Guo Wei blocked the east and west, and tried his best along the way. At this time, Zhang Mai went on a journey, but walked unscrupulously! He did not leave Ulan Fort, but went to Liangzhou, showing off his might and actually passed by Weizhou and the northern part of Qingzhou. Although he was not close to the city, he always walked on the border area and did not invade the territory, but made the generals of the states anxious. However, none of the generals sent troops to resist. When passing the northern border of Yuanzhou, the generals even ran to Zhang Mai's tent to pay tribute. Zhang Mai just smiled and comforted him. The generals were flattered and sent him fifty miles away.

After this round of temptation, Zhang Mai knew that what Cao Yuanzhong said was not false. At least the soldiers and generals in Guanzhong and western regions seemed to be very hostile to him, and some places seemed very nervous. Zhang Mai sent people from the civil servant group as envoys to comfort him, telling him that the people in the city had no intention of entering the city, and let the people live their lives as usual.

"Now that the West has settled, and soon after, Indian merchants will come in a steady stream. You must prepare money and goods to do business. Don't worry about the war in the east, I will try my best to pacify it."

In recent years, even Shuofang has been integrated into the economy of Hexi. Although Guanzhong is called "Destruction", its foundation is not comparable to Shuofang, Gansu and Lianglan. The goods from the Central Plains and Jiangnan must be transported through the Weihe River Basin. The commerce in this area has long been activated. Although the guards and officials are secretly connected to Hexi, the people and Hexi are naturally closer together.

In March of the sixth year of Tiance, Zhang Mai, the general of the Tang Dynasty who was respected as the Tiankang in the Western Regions, finally arrived at Luguan. Li Yiyin had already commanded 20,000 Dangxiang to welcome him outside the pass. Zhang Mai said he would bring 20,000 people, so he would bring 20,000 people, not too much or too much. He also prepared a lot of cattle, sheep, food and grass. He knelt on the road, crawled on the ground, and called out to our master.

Zhang Mai was not too polite to him, so he ordered Ma Xiaochun to help him up on his own and said with a smile: "The Dingnan Army is not a fertile land, how can I let you spend money on me?"

Li Yiyin said: "Lu Pass is close to Dingnan Army. Although all the world is the land of the lord, since this land should be led by the minister, the ministers naturally cannot starve the soldiers and generals who accompany the lord."

Zhang Mai was comfortable when he heard this. Zhang Mai said, "It is rare that you are so kind. I will remember it in my heart. I will repay you in the future and will definitely be at a loss for the elders."

When the leaders of Dangxiang and other tribes heard this, they were all happy and despised.

Thirty thousand troops entered Luguan, and all actions were presided over by Guo Wei. They were in good order. Although Zhang Mai brought few people, their equipment, morale, mental outlook and training level were all first-class! The Dangxiang people naturally felt awe when they saw it, and they all thought: "No wonder even the Khitan could not defeat them. They were indeed invincible heroes!"

Zhang Xichong was delayed. However, some small vassal towns in Qinxi, northern Qin, and some tribes nomadic on the border of Hu and Han came to visit him. There were more than 20,000 people. Zhang Mai came and they were all placed inside and outside Luguan, and ordered Cao Yuanzhong to be the leader. Among them, there was Li Congke's old subordinate who protected a child, saying that he was Li Congke's youngest son, and came to join his uncle. Zhang Mai cried in the east: "I am expeditioning the west, so that the Central Plains are stormed and the brothers are killed! The elders and brothers suffer this great suffering. Today, I swear here that I will expel the captives, tyrants, and expel foreign invaders! The heads of Shi Jingtang and Yelu Deguang were used to commemorate the people who were brutally killed in the Central Plains, so that the hatred in our clan will be eliminated!"

The people who came to the vassals and all the clans kowtowed to the mountains and shouted long live. The boy also shouted, "Please make the decision for us and be the author of the people in the world." His voice trembled, and these two sentences were obviously taught by the people who brought him.

Zhang Mai handed the boy to Fan Zhi and asked him to verify the authenticity. On March 13, Zhang Xichong arrived late, but only brought five thousand people. Cao Yuanzhong was displeased.

Zhang Mai said: "Why did Mr. Zhang come so late?"

Zhang Xichong said: "The 15th meeting is only thirteen now, and I am not late."

Zhang Mai pointed to the soldiers outside his city and said, "Why are there only five thousand people? After the great victory last year, I will return to the soldiers of the tribe in the future. All the soldiers and horses of the Han family rescued belong to Zhang Linggong. Linggong's troops should have increased greatly, why did this only come this time?"

Zhang Xichong said: "The army of Dingnan lives in the heart of Hetao, so we can naturally come all over the place. But I guard the east, north and west sides of Hetao, guard the Yellow River, and need troops, guard the prefectures, Linzhou, and also keep troops, and Lingzhou. Although it is important to meet with the marshal, isn't it even more important to defend the country? Xichong is already very forced to draw out these five thousand people."

Many small vassals were about to scold him, but they saw Zhang Mai laughing and said, "What Zhang Linggong said is, I am not thinking well."

Zhang Xichong said: "The Marshal called on us to meet again this time, but he didn't know what was going on?"

Zhang Mai had not answered yet, and someone came to report: "Shi Jingtang of Luoyang sent an envoy."

Zhang Mai said angrily: "Shi Jingtang? He led Hu into the Seychelles, disrupted our country, killed my brother, and had the face to send some envoy to see me! He would bombard me with him!"

Fan Zhi advised: "The two armies are fighting and do not kill the envoy. Although Shi Ni is guilty of a serious crime, his envoy may wish to see him and see what he has to say." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations from ***(***.***) ***. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
Chapter completed!