The first year of Zhenguan, November.
Li Chao rode a horse and walked on the land of Henan, and along the road, the fields were covered with tall artemisia grass.
It has long been withered and yellow, and it is bleak.
In the late autumn when the leaves are falling, I don't see the joy of the people's harvest, but I see desolation and decadence.
Fortunately, there are still people in the village along the way, but there are few people.
The young people in the village either went to repair Hanjing, or concentrated in the prefecture and county to repair reservoirs, dams, ditches, etc.
Only a few elderly people and some half-grown children are left in the village.
Even young women, many of whom were hired by the government or businessmen to work in exchange for relief, are still fighting to withstand the catastrophe.
"The situation is not bad, there are not many people dying of starvation, and there are no homeless people and no plague.
This winter is very cold, and many people say that there will be heavy snow in winter, and there will definitely be no more drought and no locust plague next year.
Su Lie rode a black horse and walked side by side with Li Chao.
In the classical era, there were four major murderers in the sharp decline of the population.
Great natural disasters, great famines, great wars, and great plagues.
These four are often parallel, and major natural disasters or wars often lead to great famines, and then great plagues are prone to occur.
One can reduce a lot of population, and if several things are concurrent, they can often be white.
Last year and this year, there was a great disaster in the north, and then there was a great famine, but the imperial court rescued and pacified well, and there was no mass starvation death, and there was no rebellion of hungry people.
First, the imperial court raised food for work, as long as you can still eat, even if it is not full, but you will not die of hunger, everyone will not be willing to commit the risk of killing your head to rebel when you are not desperate, although there are people who are not satisfied with the status quo, but there are few outlaws after all.
In addition, the court's cash-for-work transfer of those young and strong people has been transferred, and the supervision and care are stricter.
In addition, the armor protection system and the joint sitting system also reduce the danger of rebellion, because the cost of rebellion is higher and the risk is greater.
"Most of the rich and powerful people in the north have left temporarily, and without these people, in fact, the north can always be so stable."
Li Chao said a reason that surprised Su Dingfang.
Although it seems to be okay, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
The rich and powerful have prestige and financial resources in the local area, and they often have big families and many family members, and they can respond to every call.
Causing is not only a death, but also an organization.
Leaving the organization, nothing can be accomplished.
If the imperial court is not organized, it will not be able to provide disaster relief and reassure the people.
If the displaced people are not organized, they will not be able to rebel, at most they will gather and loot when they are hungry, rather than rebelling.
Those who had the ability to organize rebellion were the powerful landlords who were famous in the countryside.
The imperial court persuaded those people away, as if to get the food they had left behind, but in fact it was to isolate these uneasy factors from the disaster area.
Look at the desolation along the way.
Li Chao's heart is also very heavy.
With the current situation in the north, if he can't hold the line of the Great Wall on this trip, then the consequences will be unbearable.
Now the imperial court is on the northern border, and there is a solid layer of eggshell wrapping, but the vast northern area within the border eggshell is quite weak, and the countryside is full of old and weak.
"Why isn't it snowing yet?"
It was very cold, and the north wind was tight, but it didn't snow.
However, Li Chao didn't think that a burst of snow could stop the Turks, as long as it wasn't that kind of extraordinarily large snowstorm, the Turks would not be afraid of snow.
It's only November, and the Turks are more accustomed to the cold than the Han Chinese.
The weather is cold, the snow is frozen, and it will even become a more unfavorable climate for the Han people.
During this season, the river freezes and becomes a smooth passage.
The rivers that used to be dangerous have become smooth roads, and even the Yellow River has frozen.
The Turks went south, and their cavalry was able to come and go like the wind, and there was no hindrance.
"I hope that when the eldest grandson Wuji abandons defending Fengzhou, he will be able to clear the wilderness."
Although they will also carry dried meat and dried milk, as well as cattle and sheep, they will rely more on beating grass and grains and raiding on the spot to replenish.
The fortified clear field is a good way to defend against the Turks.
Taking away everything that can be taken away, burning what can't be taken away, and turning the vast Hetao area into a no-man's land, will make the Turks very sad.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
On this day, the soldiers and horses arrived at Fengling Pass.
Fengling Pass is at Fengling Ferry, guarding this important ferry.
Fengling Ferry connects Hedong and Henan, and is very close to Tongguan, has always been a place for soldiers to fight, and has become one of the most important passes at the intersection of Hedong, Henan and Guanzhong as well as Pujin Ferry.
Guarding the Fengling Pass is Puzhou Thorn Shi Niu Jinda.
As soon as the Yellow River was crossed, the ferry wharf, Niu Jinda and several generals were waiting there.
Niu Jinda, Governor of Puzhou, Luo Shixin, Governor of Huazhou, Shan Xiongxin, Governor of Tongzhou, Li Junxian, Governor of Yuzhou, and Wu Heimin, Governor of Shaanxi.
The five governors, who are also the generals of the customs defense in this triangle region, all came to greet Li Chao.
They also received a holy decree that they would follow Li Chao north to defend against the Turks together.
The five of them are all generals of the Qin Palace, and they were all from Wagang earlier, so the relationship with Li Chao is excellent.
"Xiangguo came so fast."
Li Chao and Luo Shixin greeted each other one by one.
The five governors all took the post of the head of the Northern Expedition, and each of them selected a thousand elites from their own defense areas, all of whom were cavalry.
With Li Chao's 3,000 riders, there are 8,000 riders here.
But in reality, there are almost 10,000 riders.
In addition to the three people and 1,000 horses, each brought 500 horses, and these 500 horses were brought in the name of the generals and guards, and Li Chao also had a team of such soldiers and horses, so there were 2,000 horses.
After only turning around, Li Chao had an impression of the 1,500 cavalry that Niu Jinda and each of them carried, all of them were elite, old soldiers, real cavalry rather than infantry on horseback.
One hundred and four percent for bows and arrows, and forty percent for crossbows.
Twenty percent of the cavalry was equipped with twin horses.
As for equipment such as riding spears and horizontal knives, they are even more 100% equipped.
Well-equipped, experienced, and strong, such 10,000 horsemen, although they are light cavalry, equipped with leather armor, Li Chao dares to say that such 10,000 horsemen, even if they ride in the field, one-on-one, they are not afraid of the Turks.
"Xiangguo, we just received good news, Li Jinggang has won a big victory."
Shan Xiongxin said with a smile.
The news they just received today was that Li Jing had a battle with Tuli in Daibei Yunzhong.
Li Jing sent light cavalry to attack the Turkic forward sentinel to lure the Turks into pursuit, and then Li Jing sent troops to ambush, and then defeated and lured the enemy.
In this way, the Tuli striker won more than a dozen battles in one day, and the more he chased, the more excited he became, and the more he chased the enemy, the more he underestimated the enemy, and as a result, a 5,000-strong forward completely broke away from the Tuli army.
Then, this Khitan cavalry of 5,000 people was surrounded by Li Jing with 30,000 Tang and Tubu cavalry in a valley in the clouds, and after a fierce battle, more than 1,000 Khitans were shot and killed, and the rest surrendered.
Hearing the news, Li Chao nodded.
It seems that Li Jing did not listen to the eldest grandson Wuji's withdrawal to Yanmen, nor did he listen to his later orders, and still stayed in Daibei.
"A great victory, inspiring, majestic and mighty" Li Chao didn't say that Li Jing didn't listen to military orders at this time, this is a victory, no matter what, Datang really needs such a victory to inspire people at the moment.
"Killed 1,000 enemies, captured 4,000, where is General Li Jing now?"
"After General Li Jing's victory, he cut off all the arms of the four thousand Khitan captives at the foot of the white mountain in the clouds, chopped off their feet and thumbs, and then took away their horses and dry food, leaving only them at the bottom of the mountain."
Luo Shixin said this, his face still shining.
This short Tan Guogong is the most fierce when he fights, and he likes to charge into battle when he fights, and his favorite thing to do is to cut off the enemy's ears and string them up, hang them around his neck, and charge back and forth with blood on his body, and even kill them, and sometimes he will directly take one ear down and send it into his mouth to chew while charging.
When Li Chao was at home, sometimes the children couldn't be coaxed to make noise, so he directly told the story of Luo Shixin eating ears.
Now in the hearts of a group of little guys in the Li family, Luo Shixin is a big demon king who eats people, and he likes to eat the ears of crying children the most.
"It's a pity that there are 4,000 Khitannus, it could have been sold for a good price, and it is the most suitable for the Khitannus to send them to coal mining, the long ones are thick and powerful."
Niu saw the tiger muttering a sigh on the side.
As a result, his father Niu Jin rolled his eyes for a while.
"You know what a fart, when the war is going on, you still think about money everywhere, and General Li Jing is so smart."
Li Jing didn't take the prisoners because it was inconvenient to take the prisoners, so he designed to eat this striker, but the Tuli army was behind.
If you take a few thousand prisoners with you, it will not only affect the speed of the march, but also be a hidden danger.
As for not killing them directly, it is not because killing prisoners is ominous.
But everyone knows that there are 100,000 people in Tuli, and killing a few thousand can't hurt his muscles and bones.
But leaving him with 4,000 wounded soldiers was different.
Four thousand had a broken hand, no cripples of the thumbs of both feet, such a wounded soldier would not have healed in a few months, and this war was doomed to be absent.
Free novels bring you joy and joy ---> storyskyline.net
Tuli had 4,000 fewer soldiers, but he had to spare many soldiers to take care of the wounded, wasting a lot of precious medicine.
That's where it's the hardest.
Of course, Tuli can also kill these people, but these wounded soldiers are Khitans, and if Tuli really dares to do this, then it will definitely chill the people of other tribes, and who will fight so hard for Tuli in the future.
"Stinky boy, learn more in the future, let me tell you, ginger is still old and spicy."
Niu Jinda taught his son a lesson.
Li Chao was also very amazed by Li Jing's hand, he didn't feel cruel or anything, what era was this, the Middle Ages.
In the era of cold weapons tearing and killing, it was all face-to-face slashing, blood flowed like rivers, corpses piled up into mountains, how can there be any humane and inhumane statement.
"General Li Jing must have completely angered Tuli this time, I hope General Li Jing will accept it when he sees it, and don't play too much."
Li Chao was a little worried, although Li Jing's ability was great, but Li Chao didn't want him to take risks, and Hedong relied on Li Jing's tens of thousands of people.
Besides, the first-line defense of the Great Wall in Hedong is only a section of the entire northern defense line, and it is also an extremely important section.
If there is a problem with Li Jing's section, then there will be a big gap in the entire defense line.
Li Chao would rather be conservative than play with the whole overall situation.
"Get a pen and paper, I want to write a letter to General Li Jing."
Waiting for the pen and paper to be taken, Li Chao picked up the pen, and finally put down the pen, but only one big word was written on the whole page of letterhead.
"Steady" "Send this letter to General Li Jing quickly" folded the letter with only one word, and Li Chao handed it to the guards beside him.
Although the letter was only one word, he believed that Li Jing would understand what he meant after reading the letter.
No matter how much he writes, if Li Chao refuses to obey orders, it will be useless, but it is better to write a letter, which is more concise and clear, and it also shows his attitude more.
When encountering a general like Li Jing, Li Chao also had a headache. t1706231537: