Chapter 663 Chi Jie
On the road from Heyang Sancheng to Tianjingguan, there were vehicles and horses blocking the road, and the army meandered forward.
In the middle, on the huge shoulder carriage, the Han general He Jin was sullen and angry with someone. The counselor's staff and palace attendants around him did not dare to express their anger, for fear that they would become the one who vented their anger.
These people know why He Jin is like this. Isn't it that He Jin's clan brother, He Yang Lieutenant He Rongfei, who has the power to defend the three cities of Heyang, wants to persuade He Jin to stay in Heyang?
And this is what He Jinqi is talking about.
Why does everyone advise me not to go north, why do they look down on me, and think that I will definitely lose the war? It is true that I, He Jin, was not born as a general, but General Wei Qing, who was not born as a general, was granted the title of Langjuxu. How difficult would it be to defeat a Taishan bandit by myself?
When he was in Kyoto, Wang Qian of the shogunate had made him extremely annoyed. Now that he was out, his own clan brothers didn't believe him either.
If this kid's real surname wasn't He, he would definitely punish He Rong severely. Thinking of this, he thought of the fake brother He Miao. It is said that this boy and Liu Hong were left idle after they ran to the west. It is not known whether he is still alive.
Huh, better die.
Thinking of this, He Jin felt a burst of joy, which also dispelled a lot of the unhappiness just now.
But when his thoughts changed again, He Jin's expression darkened again.
He suddenly thought that if he really lost this battle, wouldn't he be worse off than He Miao? As a result, my mood took a turn for the worse and became even more unhappy.
The eunuchs who had been watching He Jin carefully saw that He Jin's face was like a big dye vat, sometimes red, sometimes green, and sometimes black.
These eunuchs used to be from the palace. After the Manna Incident, they were sent to the shogunate to serve He Jin. As time passed, these eunuchs also got to know He Jin.
As for He Jin, he was usually fine, and he was polite to people like them, and rarely beat or scold him. But one thing is very fatal, that is, once He Jin falls into a state of thinking, he is particularly prone to mania. If someone disturbs him at this time, he will be beaten with a stick.
It is precisely because of this that, with He Jin's Jianyu as the center, there is a state of low pressure.
But the pressure on He Jin's side was low, while the rest of the team was cheerful and lively.
For this expedition, He Jin gathered 50,000 troops. What components did these armies consist of?
Maybe He Jin didn't know that there might not be many real soldiers in the army he was leading at this time. Among this huge crowd, there are young people from wealthy families, people living in the market, and even some traffickers and lackeys.
Didn't He Jin lead a new army with the Northern Army as the core? How could this be?
In fact, the new army at the beginning was indeed a good fighting force. With the Northern Army that suppressed the rebellion of the Yellow Turban Army as the core, they integrated the elite troops of various powerful families in Guandong, and won many honors on the battlefield of Weihan.
But contrary to what many laymen think, it is actually very difficult to maintain the combat effectiveness of the army. Maybe after a few battles or a period of peace and security, the combat effectiveness of the army will quickly deteriorate.
Sadly, with the several civil strife in the Guandong court, expert military talents were constantly killed, or they left the center like Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, which resulted in a large number of laymen taking charge of the construction of the new army.
In the eyes of these people, the army is just the numbers on the military register and the consumption of food and grass. As for the specific combat power, it means that they have seen a few performance-type martial arts performances, and even this kind of martial arts performance has been seen a few times and then stopped.
They naively think that the military's combat prowess is proven forever, but they don't know that it is just like muscles. Once you don't train, your beautiful muscles will disappear and be replaced by a lump of fat.
And now this piece of fat is the army led by He Jin.
After many princes in the Kanto region began to harbor their own agendas, the sphere of influence of the Kanto imperial court continued to shrink. Kyoto, which could originally muster 200,000 troops, could barely maintain an army of 100,000.
Of these 100,000 troops, about 20,000 are at Baduan in the Luoyang Basin, 20,000 are at the Weihan battlefield in the west, and the remaining 60,000 are almost all Northern troops stationed in Kyoto.
The 60,000 Northern troops were superior to the Northern troops outside the town in terms of equipment and food, but the glitz and comfort of Kyoto greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of these Kyoto troops.
What's more terrible? That is, a large number of people from Kyoto and the common people registered in the Northern Army to avoid hard labor.
In the past, when all the human and financial resources in Kanto were returned to the imperial court, these Kyoto people naturally did not need to work, but now it is difficult, then don't worry about whether they are grass on the nest, catch them and eat them first.
But it's a pity that your court thinks so, but it must be able to do it. As soon as you started to conscript labor according to your registration, the people over there who had connections and means began to drag their registration into the army.
Originally, according to their physical constitution, these Kyoto people were well-fed and well-informed, so they might not be bad soldiers. For example, the city of Kyoto has the highest literacy rate in the world, and anyone you can find can be useful in the military.
Furthermore, in the past, the Han Dynasty had always pursued a policy of supporting Kyoto from the world. Even if most of the resources were used by the upper class, if a little was leaked to the lower class, the people in the market would enjoy enough dividends.
For example, Kyoto obviously does not produce millet, but the price of millet here is extremely low. There is even a welfare program in Cangcheng that gives out old rice. Therefore, the Han people know that any dog wants to be born in Kyoto.
Because there, dogs can really get enough to eat.
In such an environment, it can be said that he can eat well, study, and practice martial arts with some veterans of the Northern Army who are unwilling to return home. Logically speaking, he should send out elite soldiers.
But it is a pity that the edge of the sword comes from sharpening, and the fragrance of plum blossoms comes from the bitter cold.
Those old Northern soldiers all came from the border areas. These people heard the rumors, practiced martial arts, practiced swordsmanship, and finally grew into military heroes in the border wars.
But what about Kyoto? Bao Gejia, Ji Fengdi, until old age did not hear the sound of war, even though he was strong and loved the tug-of-war, he was happy to fight privately.
But what? Once something happens, these people will tremble, and their bravery in private fights will not be seen at all. The strong physique trained in tug-of-war can no longer be worn with armor, just an embroidered pillow.
Therefore, if there are more people like this in the army, how can the morale and combat effectiveness of the army be improved?
And that's for the best. In practical terms, these people are even in the military, but in fact they all have their own livelihood and errands.
The Kyoto of the Han Dynasty is the pearl in the hearts of all the Han people. Even the biggest dream of the princes of the small princes on the Silk Road is to live in Kyoto.
But when they actually arrive in Kyoto, these people will find that Kyoto is very big. It is the largest city in the world, with hundreds of thousands of people living here.
But at the same time, Kyoto is very small, because people and things here are all in the same big network. Everyone has his own patron, and everyone has his own benefactor.
Maybe the story behind selling Hu cakes in the West Market goes all the way back to the boss Gongqing in Buguangli.
In this city, every powerful man has his own group of followers to help him do things. Some are on the bright side, and some are in the dark.
So even though there are many people in Kyoto, none of them are superfluous.
Almost all the business people who were entrusted with military registration benefited from these big shots. On the one hand, they could place people in the army and obtain intelligence. On the other hand, they avoided hard labor and allowed their subordinates to do more.
Therefore, these people know very well how effective the Northern troops in Kyoto are. The one who is really kept in the dark is General He Jin.
Why did Wang Qian object to He entering and leaving the army? It was because he knew that the Kwantung Soldiers in Kyoto at this time were the most chaotic. These people have active minds and will run away if something happens. If a person flees, hundreds of people will fan each other. If an army disperses, all the armies will be defeated.
Therefore, why did He Jin lead the Kanto athletes? They were just a group of Kyoto soldiers.
Lao He knew nothing about this and was still internally consumed in that huge and gorgeous carriage.
……
At the front of the Kwantung Army, the entire queue was filled with a cheerful atmosphere, and most of the sergeants regarded this march as a spring outing. Kyoto people, spring outings in March were originally a pleasure for the children of princes, but now they, the common people, can also have this fun, which is a pleasure.
You know, this was not the case when these people first set off from Kyoto.
When the shogunate announced that it was going to send out 100,000 troops to go on an expedition, these ordinary people in the market were like mourning their heirs, and father and son cried to each other, thinking that they would die in the expedition.
Some families with wealth quickly hired butchers and poor people from outside the city to take their place in the army. Later, because there were more people to hire, the price of the mercenaries also increased, so much so that the middle-class family could no longer afford the price.
In this way, on the day of the expedition, the five armies and the soldiers of Jing, Jing, Zheng, and Drum finally gathered together 50,000 soldiers.
Fortunately, there were still a large number of officers in the army to suppress and restrain the army, so that the army would not collapse on its own halfway.
And as they walked, the Kyoto wanderers also discovered the beauty of it.
That's because this road is really grand. The stations along the line replenish their military supplies, and they can also loot places from time to time. Those people don't dare to resist.
At this time, these floating waves felt the pleasure of having power in their hands, which was much better than serving those big shots in Kyoto.
It seems that the world is in chaos, and being a soldier is the best way out.
After tasting the pleasure of holding troops in hand, these people heard from the army one after another that this time the general took them to Tianjing Pass and did not leave Hanoi at all.
Tianjingguan in Hanoi is only a short distance from Kyoto, maybe not even 200 miles, right? Once the news was confirmed, the entire march became more casual and loose, no different from a large-scale spring outing.
The wanderers in Kyoto may not have much ability, but they feel that they are very good at knowledge. Many people began to analyze, what will happen to the general this time, and what will happen to the Taishan Army?
How dangerous is war? In their opinion, that's what happened.
dead? Where is the place where people don’t die? When they were fighting for market access in the Western Market of Kyoto, how could a dozen of them not die at any one time? That's all.
Is Taishan’s army vicious? How evil can it be? Is there the great general Liang Jie? At that time, the eunuchs and their relatives were fighting in the streets of Kyoto all day long. Didn't they still live their lives as usual?
To say that the old Kyoto people are indeed well-informed, they have really seen the market, and they are proud of it. In those days, which of the world's tributes and romantic figures did not gather in Kyoto?
To put it bluntly, if the Taishan Army was really lucky enough to be invincible, what would happen if they threw away their weapons and surrendered? When the time comes, when I return to Kyoto, I can live in a house on Rishe Street and have enough food and clothing.
In short, no matter how chaotic the world is, we Kyoto people can still live a good life. Whoever comes here, don’t we all need them?
Once you think so clearly, you won't have to worry about the future.
At this moment, some sergeants in the former army were whispering.
These people wear embroidered clothes and shoes and are a bit dusty, but overall they are very respectable. They didn't wear armor or carry spears, which they put in the cart at the back.
An old soldier behind them felt angry when he saw this behavior, and cursed in his heart:
"This bunch of foot traffickers, even if they don't wear armor, they are marching after all, but they are even willing to carry spears and weapons. They really regard war as child's play!"
But Lao Jun just cursed in his heart, because he knew it would be useless even if he said it, and he couldn't even offend these people.
Even though these people are theoretically his subordinates, who doesn't collect rent from several mansions in Kyoto? The family needs at least tens of thousands of dollars.
Moreover, one of the old soldiers also knew him as a well-known interest lender in the West Market. I don’t know how many big shots he had mingled with. Anyway, the old army’s own boss had loaned interest with this person.
I dare not think about the relationship behind this.
Thinking of this, Lao Jun was helpless. He was a typical Northern Army boy who had made great achievements in defending Kyoto, but he had been busy for half his life, defeating the Yue bandits, killing the poor people, conquering the Northern bandits, suppressing the moth thieves, and finally being coerced into doing He defeated the rebels and fought back to Kyoto in a daze.
What followed was a long civil war, and his passion and final loyalty were consumed on the battlefield of Weihan. All that's left is to live the rest of my life well.
But after half a busy life, he realized to his shame that he didn't even have a place to stay in Kyoto. He worked for the Han Dynasty for half his life and devoted his entire youth, but in the end he couldn't even afford a mansion.
In the end, Laojun had no choice but to return to the military camp, where he was still useful.
Thinking of this, Lao Jun sighed:
"What happened to this big man? In the first half of my life, the big man was still showing his prestige all over the world. Will he be sent to his grave in the second half of my life?"
Looking at those dandy traders, Lao Jun held his spear, and he had a strong feeling that this time he might die.
Thinking of this, he actually felt relieved.
But if the veteran could hear what the previous individuals said, his mood might be more complicated.
Among these people, the leader is the money lender at home. He is whispering to his companions:
"I heard from my family that we should be smarter in this battle. If the Taishan Army comes, we will switch sides immediately."
Seeing that his companions were still suspicious, the man revealed a little more:
"What do you know? My family has been in contact with the Taishan Army. We are ordinary people and are not within the attack range of the Taishan Army. When the time comes, we will switch sides and lead the way. Isn't the credit due?"
This group of people are all small and medium-sized traders in the West City. They have always been well-informed. They know the Taishan Army's policies very well and know that the man is right.
The Taishan Army only wants land and frivolous wealth, as long as they are not against the Taishan Army, they can generally keep it.
So, everyone was determined.
At this moment, a horseman came running from the gallop, holding a feather in his hand, and shouted excitedly:
"There was a great victory ahead. Lu Bu defeated the rebel army in Lu County, killing five thousand enemies, winning one military seal and countless military flags."
This Yu Qi just passed the victory report sent by Lu Bu to He Jin. He Jin was so happy that he directly conferred the title of Marquis on Lü Bu and ordered all the cavalry to gallop to spread the news to the whole army.
Sure enough, no matter what they were thinking about, when they heard the victory, they all raised their arms and shouted.
Along the tens of miles of relaxing roads, cheers shook the sky and the earth.
Everyone is proud from the bottom of their hearts:
"Our big man is still the same big man, strong!"
At this moment, everyone truly felt that there was hope for the big man.
As a result, the three armies were full of morale and marched towards Tianjing Pass in front, showing off their strength.
Exactly:
"Bei Mangmo rides on the chariot, and the king of Kyoto is dejected."
"The flags are colorful and blocking the pass, and the soldiers of the Western Market have swords at their waists."
"The rear army has just left Heyang City, and the front line has already heard the news of Chi's victory."
"It's a pity that the general is so depressed, and the crimson flags are falling from the cloud platform."