Chapter 642: Changing Days
Taiyuan, November 13, the second year of Taiwu.
At this time, in the middle of the sun, the east and west cities of Taiyuan were beating war drums from all directions, making the whole city sound. Then the remaining 40,000 troops outside the city marched into Taiyuan City according to the plan and took over various villages.
The sound of the clash of gold and iron horses spread along the endless Fenshui River.
The people in the city were all looking at the door of their homes, watching these heroic Taishan troops passing by in unison, and then leaving a group of people at every street corner. These people were rooted there like pines and cypresses, and they didn't look away.
Everyone understands that a new era in Taiyuan has arrived.
……
Zhang Chong met with the meritorious generals of this battle at the Bingzhou governor's shogunate.
The person who ranked first in merit in this battle was naturally Zhao Yun, because he won Hu Zhen's head. The second most successful person is Taishi Ci, who won the Great Ban of Kansai with him.
After that, there was another general who challenged him, and both of them made gains, and they were rewarded as usual.
It was also at this time that he saw Xu Huang who was returning from Queshu Road in the south. After learning that Liu Bei from Guandong had also appeared in the south, Zhang Chong laughed and explained to Xu Huang:
"Liu Bei participated in the upper-level struggle in Guandong before and fled to Guanxi after the failure. He was relied on by the little emperor. You don't know this information, so I don't blame you for thinking differently."
After that, Zhang Chong asked Xu Huang in detail about his experience in Queshu Road, pondered for a while, and said:
"Gongming, the enemy army opposite you at that time should not be reinforcements, so Liu Bei must be deceiving you. Liu Bei's prestige is not enough to control the powerful generals of Guanxi such as Li Jue, so how can he restrain his troops to come to the rescue? State soldiers?”
Xu Huang nodded and was about to apologize to Zhang Chong.
Zhang Chong shook his head, thought about the changes in the matter carefully, and explained:
"In this way, Gong Ming, please write a detailed note about this matter first, and then hand it to me later. I will go over the details with Xun Qing and the others later. But what I can tell you is that our army's military front this year will only be Staying in Jiexiu. The original plan to attack Luoyang within the year can only be temporarily canceled. This winter is too cold, and Feihuxing can no longer transport grain. This winter, our army will rest and production in Taiyuan. "
Xu Huang hesitated for a moment. Although he knew what the king said was right, he still tried hard and said:
"Your Majesty, there must be a large number of Guanxi soldiers retreating from the Jiexiu battlefield. These people are frightened now, but once they are allowed to slow down in the east of the river, our army will be in big trouble behind us. Instead of going through a fierce battle later, it is better to do it now With all our efforts, we will have enough food in Taiyuan to support our army's march south to Hedong and completely solve the obstacles to our march south to Luoyang."
Zhang Chong didn't say anything, but checked out a military report. It was the battle damage situation of the Jiexiu battle that had just been sorted out today. Because Xu Huang was anxious about this matter, he hadn't had time to read it yet.
At this moment, he was flipping through the military newspaper and felt happy when he saw the list of various prisoners on it.
Together with the previous Battle of Jiexiu and last night's Battle of Taiyuan, the Taishan Army captured Jiexiu Lingwei Jian, Wuwei Camp Captain Zhang Ji, his son Zhang Chou, and his nephew Zhang Xiu. In addition, Yongzhou generals Guo Xian, Liu Jun, and Qu Sheng, Liangzhou generals Li Huan, Wang Cheng, and others.
In addition, the big officials Hu Zhen and Wang Yun were all executed, and the governor of Bingzhou, Ding Yuan, was caught red-handed by the Taishan army.
It can be said that the Taishan Army gained a lot from this battle.
But we can also see from this list that a large number of key generals in the Kansai Army ran away with their battalion heads. For example, Lu Bu and Zhang Liao of the Bingzhou Army, Gan Ning of the Yizhou Army, and Li Jue and Guo Si were all the same characters.
It was this result that made Zhang Chong understand that Xu Huang was right.
But one thing Xu Huang didn't know was that the Taishan Army's soldiers were tired after they captured Taiyuan.
Especially after the capture of Taiyuan, the damage to the army was greater than Zhang Chong expected. In the encirclement and suppression of the powerful areas in the east of the city, those powerful tribes resisted very tenaciously.
Perhaps it was a last-ditch effort, or perhaps their family members were behind them. These armed tribesmen, whose combat effectiveness was not very high, burst out with extraordinary combat effectiveness.
These people fought hard along every street and in every village of Dongcheng. Some powerful female relatives also had a premonition of their family's doom, so they ran to the wall and threw tiles at Taishan's army.
In the end, Dongcheng's resistance was suppressed, but the Taishan Army also left hundreds of lives behind.
From the autumn of this year to the twelfth lunar month of winter, although the Taishan Army completed the feat of conquering Bingzhou, it was still too tired in the end.
Zhang Chong, who had always pitied his brothers, did not want to go south again.
But in his heart, Zhang Chong was also feeling uneasy, feeling that he might miss something if he didn't go south.
Putting this thought away for the time being, Zhang Chong asked one thing. He asked Pang De, who was on duty outside:
"Has Mr. Pei been buried?"
Pound replied respectfully:
"Your Majesty, the burial has been collected and is now parked in the side hall."
Zhang Chong nodded, feeling full of regret for Pei Ye's death, but after all, this was his choice and no one could decide.
If a person really wants to die, there is nothing that can be done to stop him.
Zhang Chong sighed and added:
"Find a good coffin for Mr. Pei. The children of their aristocratic family pay attention to this."
But who knew that Pound said:
"Your Majesty, Mr. Pei left a thin coffin for himself and parked it in his house. I heard from his disciples that this was what Mr. Pei brought when he took office."
Zhang Chong was stunned for a moment and sighed for a long time:
"This is a good official, what a pity! Does Mr. Pei still have family by his side? If so, let him return home with the coffin."
But Pound shook his head and said in a low voice:
"Pei Jun had no clan heirs around him. He had an old servant who was with him, but he committed suicide after Pei Jun committed suicide. I heard that he had two heirs, but they were both married to Chang'an."
Zhang Chong did not expect such an answer. At this moment, Dong Zhao, who was waiting below, suddenly interrupted:
"Pei Jun is Wenxiren?"
Pang De didn't understand what Dong Zhao meant and just nodded.
Then Dong Zhao turned to Zhang Chong and said:
"Your Majesty, Wenxi is not that far from here. We can ask people from his clan to call people to come to Taiyuan to escort Mr. Pei's coffin back home."
Zhang Chong nodded, realizing that this was a solution, and then asked Cai Que to select someone to do this.
Also impressed by Pei Ye's loyalty, Zhang Chong asked again:
"Then Wei Jian is still unwilling to surrender?"
Wei Jian was ordered by Jie Xiu, and he stayed in Hu Zhen's camp during the Du Suoyuan battle. Later, the Guanxi camp was breached by Zhao Yun, and he was captured.
Originally, Wei Jian was just a county magistrate with a mere thousand stones, and Zhang Chong's current status was not worthy of his attention.
But Guo Tu said that Wei Xi was very important. If he could be recruited and surrendered, it would be very helpful for the Taishan Army to go south to conquer Hedong.
It turned out that this Wei Jian was actually from the famous Hedong Wei family.
Originally, Zhang Chong didn't know much about the Hedong Wei family, and even thought that they were descendants of the former Han general Wei Qing. But with Guo Tu's explanation, Zhang Chong gained a clearer understanding of the Wei family.
It turns out that the hairline of the Wei family in Hedong was during the Ming Dynasty. Wei Hao, a famous figure in the Wei family in that time, was conquered by the imperial court, but he died when he reached Anyi, Hedong.
Then, in order to compensate their family, the imperial court granted special land to the Wei family in Anyi, and allowed them to use Anyi in Hedong as their county seat. And the current Wei Jian is Wei Hao's great-grandson.
In other words, the Wei family has only been rooted in Hedong for only four generations, which is far behind other wealthy families.
Then why did Guo Tu say that the Wei family was important? It turns out that although his family has always been based on Confucianism, they have controlled the salt roads in Anyi for several generations. Once trouble occurs, they can recruit nearly a thousand salt men. They are a truly powerful family in Anyi. It is precisely because of this that Guo Tu regarded Wei Qian as a rare commodity.
In fact, Guo Tu can be regarded as path dependent. As the chief official of the Feijun Foreign Military Department, he successfully instigated Guo Kan in the Battle of Taiyuan, which can be said to have made a great contribution.
With the previous success, he naturally regarded Wei Qian as a breakthrough and wanted to recruit this person to lead the way south.
But it's a pity that this Wei Qian is quite brave and he refused to surrender even if he died. He remained silent in the face of Guo Tu's coercion and inducement. He didn't scold the Taishan Army like others, but he just refused to cooperate.
So when Zhang Chong asked about Wei Xi's situation, Guo Tu was still a little hesitant and didn't know how to explain.
Zhao Yun over there praised:
"This Wei Jian is a tough guy. Compared with him, the guy named Zhang Ji is simply unbearable."
The Zhang Ji that Zhao Yun was talking about was the only Liangzhou general who supported the Chinese army in the Battle of Dusuoyuan. Later, his troops were forced to land by Wang Han, and they were the only organized troops in this battle.
Originally, there was nothing blameworthy for Zhang Ji's behavior, but compared with loyal people like Pei Ye and Wei Jian, it was really not worth mentioning.
Strangely enough, even ordinary people would not say "The enemy's hero is our enemy." But he would also care about the positions of the enemy and ourselves, but Zhao Yun was different. He had no track at all and only praised the quality of loyalty.
Maybe this is the willfulness that belongs only to the brother-in-law.
But Zhang Chong had a different view of what Zhao Yun said.
Looking at the high-spirited Zhao Yun, Zhang Chong secretly said:
"Zilong is still young after all, and there are some things that he cannot see clearly. Zhang Ji is not unworthy, but on the contrary, he is a good general. It seems that he will have to practice more in the future to become a great player."
In fact, this is also Zhang Chong's reflection during this period. Both Zhao Yun and Zhang Shao present a kind of superficial and sloppy emptiness, without that kind of reality and stability.
This made Zhang Chong wonder if there was something wrong with the way he cultivated talents.
In fact, people such as Xu Huang have always shown extraordinary composure and wisdom, and these people have been on the front line for a long time and hold the position of mid-level military generals.
And what about Zhao Yun and his younger brother? It was obvious that he had promoted them too much and prevented them from sinking.
After secretly making a decision, Zhang Chong stopped talking and only told Guo Tu:
"Since Wei Jian is unwilling to surrender, let's not embarrass him and let him return to his hometown."
Guo Tu became anxious upon hearing this and was about to continue fighting, but when he looked up and saw Zhang Chong's tired face, he immediately changed his words to:
"Here!"
After that, Zhang Chong began to discuss with his staff the preparations for the Taishan Army to spend the winter.
Nowadays, not counting the Taishan Army's 40,000 to 50,000 prisoners, all the prisoners must not be left in Taiyuan, so Zhang Chong spent the next time determining the winter camps of each unit.
As a result, Meng Ju, Dong Zhao, Guo Tu and other people from the Feijun system temporarily left the court and went about their own business.
When Dong Zhao came out, he looked around and saw Cai Que selecting people, so he walked over with a smile.
Cai Que and Dong Zhao had a good relationship. Previously, Dong Zhao had been responsible for the internal affairs of the Fei Army and had to report to Zhang Chong overnight, so he had a lot of dealings with Cai Que, the escort.
He came over, smiled and said to Cai Que:
"General Cai, can you take me with you when you go to Wenxi with Pei? I have an old relationship with that Pei, so I might be able to help you."
Cai Que glanced at Dong Zhao suspiciously and cursed in his heart:
"This birdman doesn't know what evil is brewing in his heart. I have to guard against him."
After thinking about it, Cai Que shook his head like a rattle and refused:
"That's not possible. You are an important minister. How can you do such a thing? Besides, the king asked us to choose a cross-border official, so we should choose a cross-border official. Why are you, a civil servant, joining in the fun?"
Dong Zhao narrowed his eyes and explained with a smile:
"In this case, General Cai, you can ask the king first. Maybe the king will agree after listening to you."
Cai Que looked Dong Zhao up and down and nodded:
"Okay, let's ask."
Dong Zhao thanked him, and then quietly withdrew with Guo Tu next to him.
The two of them left here without talking all the way until they reached a secluded corner before Guo Tu couldn't help but speak.
He didn't know why and asked Dong Zhao:
"Dong Gong, did Mr. Wenxi say anything? Do you need to go there in person?"
But Guo Tu didn't get a direct answer. He only heard Dong Zhao say something leisurely:
"There are some things that the king cannot think about or speak out, so we must think about them and do them. Lao Guo, I also brought you into Feijun's inner guard. There are some things that I cannot explain clearly to you. , I can only send you a message.”
Seeing Guo Tu being taught respectfully, Dong Zhao said this:
"The King is always the light, and we are always the darkness."
After saying this, Dong Zhao walked away, leaving Guo Tu alone to ponder.
……
The remaining days of November are lackluster, but they must be expressed.
After taking Taiyuan, although Zhang Chong had decided to stay in the basin for the winter, it did not mean that the war was over. There were still a lot of things to deal with.
When troops were sent from Taiyuan to Jiexiu, there were still many cities under the control of the Han army. During this period, the Taishan army was successively demolishing these cities.
First, Yuci, east of Taiyuan, was captured on November 14, and then along the Fen River, they successively captured Ganyang, Daling, Qixian, Jingling, Zhongdu, and Wuxian, completely occupying the Taiyuan Basin.
Later, the Taishan Army built a camp in Queshu Road and transported supplies to prepare for the war in the next spring.
During this period, the Guo Tai tribe of the former Baibo Valley also completed its mission and took the 38,000 households under its command to go north to Taiyuan. In the end, in addition to selecting a battalion leader of about a thousand people, they were given the title "Tianbo Camp" ", the rest of them were placed in the Taiyuan area.
Not only that, after Zhang Chong decided to stay in Taiyuan, he specifically upgraded Taiyuan to "Western Prefecture" and began to pacify the Hu and Han forces in Shuofang, Xihe, Shangjun, Wuyuan, Yunzhong and other places here.
These areas are generally vast and sparsely populated, and the limited cities rely on the branches of Taiyuan.
Therefore, whoever occupies the economic center of Taiyuan can influence or even decide the ownership of these areas.
When Taiyuan fell into the hands of the Taishan Army, the governors and magistrates of various counties who were waiting and watching sent envoys to Taiyuan to express their sincerity.
The dust settled, and from then on, the blue sky in Bingzhou was replaced by the yellow sky.