Chapter 118 The Last Corner

Chapter 118 The Last Corner

Chapter 118 The Last Corner
When Shao Xun saw Chen Yougen again, he had already returned from the Hongnong County government.

This county is located on the Yellow River northeast of Lingbao. It was named Hongnong in the Jin Dynasty and Taolin in the Tang Dynasty. It was later renamed Lingbao because of the "Lingfu".

Three miles northwest of Hongnong is Yejin, which is an important ferry across the river.

Shao Xun wrote down the terrain, post roads, water sources, ferry crossings, cities along the way, and even all kinds of miscellaneous information he had heard, and returned home satisfied.

On the tenth day of March, the army camped overnight on Zhaogongyuan, south of Shan County.

Shao Xun was quite fond of this place name.

Most of the descendants of Duke Zhao changed their surname to "Shao" in the Han Dynasty. This was God's will.

My family's land.

Including Shan County and Hongnong, they are all my family's land.

"General, Lord Pei has agreed to send someone to Yiyang. His name is Liu Anzhi, and he will bring 500 pieces of Shu brocade." Inside the big tent, Chen Yougen recounted everything that had happened over the past few days.

"Liu Anzhi? The princess's nephew-in-law?" Shao Xun had heard of this man. He was the commander of the fortress in Hedong and a member of the Liu family. He married the princess's niece Nu Nu. It was said that he also participated in the Battle of Dangyin last year, where the losses were heavy. Only less than a thousand of the fifteen hundred troops returned.

"I don't think this Liu Anzhi is here just to give us brocade." Shao Xun continued to ponder, "Maybe he wants to see our abilities and how far we have come."

It was obvious that Liu Anzhi came here for inspection.

Five hundred pieces of Shu brocade were just a "down payment". If the inspection results were good, there might be additional investment, and even core members of the Pei family might go south to seek official positions in Hongnong.

Shao Xun just received the news: the Imperial Censor Yu Chen has completed the process for the post of Ji County Prefect and is about to take office. The original Ji County Prefect Zhang Yan was to be transferred to be the Henei Prefect, but the Pei family intervened and Pei Zheng was appointed as the Henei Prefect.

Shao Xun didn't know what happened in history, but based on current analysis, the Pei family seemed to have the idea of ​​expanding their influence.

Come to think of it, who doesn't have ambitions these days? Wang Yan is seeking Xuzhou, and perhaps Qingzhou, so how could the Pei family not have ideas about Hongnong, which is so close?
There was a man named Pei Yi, who was appointed as the magistrate of Hongnong County at the end of last year. Shao Xun had just met him a few days ago, but he didn't know much about him. He might not be a core member of the Pei family, but he was able to come to Hongnong, which must have been helped by the Pei family across the river.

As troubled times arrived, it was completely reasonable for the Wenxi Pei family to begin expanding into the Henei and Hongnong counties surrounding Hedong County.

Use Hongnong to fish for them, and you are guaranteed to catch one every time.

"General, do you want to pull everyone out to scare Liu Anzhi so that he won't look down on us?" Chen Yougen asked.

"No need." Shao Xun waved his hand and said, "Let it be as it is. It's enough to have the Silver Spear Army. Although they have only been training for a year or so, they still look good when they are pulled out for sale."

"The coolies of the Silver Spear Army are indeed different now." Chen Yougen said sourly.

Once upon a time, those people were really stupid. When the training team was training, I don't know how many times they were beaten with sticks. I didn't expect that after just a year, they have become somewhat good.

"Speaking of the Silver Spear Army, I have some new ideas." Shao Xun placed his right hand on the table and tapped the table with his index finger, obviously thinking about something.

Chen Yougen looked at him and waited quietly.

"You should find out the bottom line in the next few days. If the teaching team leaves the Kingdom Army or even the Imperial Guard as a whole, see how many people are willing to do so." Shao Xun said.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Chen Yougen asked in surprise.

"It's not me who is anxious, it's the Minister of State who is anxious." Shao Xun said with a wry smile: "Hua Tan kept urging us in the capital, and Cao Junsi sent Yu Yuangui to the west to deliver the official seal to Lord Mi and me."

After that, Shao Xun took out the official seal of the Palace General from a small box beside him and said, "I am no longer the Palace General of the Kingdom."

"You are a self-proclaimed general..." Chen Yougen said in a low voice. As expected, Shao Xun glared at him fiercely.

"The Palace General is in charge of the Imperial Guards and supervises the guards of the palace. He is assigned to the Left and Right Guards. He serves at court meetings, banquets, and when the emperor enters and leaves the palace. He opens the gates of the palace at night..." Shao Xun looked at the official seal and said slowly, "From now on, I am the commander of the Imperial Guards, and the Royal Army will be disbanded and distributed to various places."

In fact, the Palace General is a relatively important position.

In ancient times, in addition to the guards, there were also imperial field troops guarding the palace.

This tradition existed until the Northern Song Dynasty, such as the Golden Spear Squad of the Palace Front Department, the Inner Palace Guard, etc. These troops not only had to participate in foreign wars, but also had to take turns guarding the palace.

To put it bluntly, the emperor just wanted to increase his influence in the army.

The reason why Yang Xianrong tried to win over Shao Xun was that he was a general in the palace and a commander on the front line.

At the critical moment, he is more useful than the commander of the imperial guards and the lieutenant of the Northern Army.

After all, the Lieutenant General of the Northern Army would not directly command the troops guarding the palace, but the General of the Palace would - it's like the difference between the Minister of Defense and the commander of a front-line division.

If Yang Xianrong really wanted to plot something, the Palace General could play a huge role, such as closing off the palace and killing powerful officials. Regardless of the consequences, this is really possible, provided that the Palace General can deeply control his troops and at least cultivate a considerable number of confidants.

"General, do we old people need to evacuate?" Chen Yougen asked.

"We have to withdraw, but not all of them." Shao Xun nodded and said, "I don't plan to leave the teaching team to the Imperial Guards. You and your brothers should discuss it and try to get all of them out. I will set up a new army called the 'Long Sword Army', which will use the teaching team as its base." "Where is the Long Sword Army stationed?" Chen Yougen's eyes lit up and he asked anxiously.

He had long wanted to stop working for this damn court, and it would be great if he could become independent.

The teaching team is equivalent to General Shao’s personal soldiers and they are very convinced of him. Most of them should be willing to leave as long as they can find a place for them to stay.

"Yu Yuangui came today, and I remembered a place." Shao Xun said, "Yushanwu."

"The fortress in Yangdi County?"

"Yes." Shao Xun said, "After forcing Zhang Hong to retreat, Yu Shubao left Yushanwu and returned to his hometown in Yingchuan to live for a while, and then returned to Luoyang. After a series of battles in Luoyang, Yu Gun took his wife and family to Linlu Mountain in Ji County and built a second fort. After Yu Gun left, most of Yushanwu was dispersed, and now there are not many people left."

The situation of Yushanwu is rather special because this fort has no "core".

Yu Gun only brought a small number of his clansmen, and relying purely on his personal ability and charm, he won over the fortress residents with extremely complex origins, and then they swore an oath together to hold out until Zhang Hong withdrew his troops.

To put it bluntly, Yu Gun took the people of Yangdi County to the mountains to build a fortress in order to protect himself and to avoid seeing them being ravaged by bandits. Many of the generals, mayors, and village sages in Yushan Fortress were even officials of Yangdi County.

After the situation stabilized, they left, and Yushanwu became half-abandoned.

Shao Xun's plan was to use his relationship with Yu Chen, the prefect of Ji County, to get Yu Gun, who was building a fort and farming on Linlu Mountain, to come forward and use his remaining influence to occupy Yushanwu as the base for the newly formed Changjian Army.

To this end, he needed to exchange interests with the Yu family, such as recruiting some people from the royal army to follow Yu Chen to Ji County to take office and become the de facto county soldiers of Ji County - Hebei was not peaceful.

This matter is not simple, but not difficult either. If there is no benefit, Shao Xun is unwilling to consume his prestige and influence to do this, but if there is a tangible benefit like Yushanwu, he is still willing to do it.

If Sikong doesn't come, everyone can do whatever they want. If you don't use your power, it will expire.

"You should recruit some familiar soldiers in the army, those who dare to fight and fight, and as long as they are willing to go, all of them should be incorporated into the Long Sword Army. After all, it has been several years, and it is hard to say what the situation of Yushanwu is now. It won't hurt to have more people." Shao Xun said: "The Silver Spear and Long Sword Armies are both my confidants, no one is better than the other. From now on, you will train in Yangdi, and they will be trained in Yiyang. They will be of great use in the future."

Yiyang and Yangdi are not far from Luoyang, and can be reached in one day with two or three fast horses. This makes it convenient for him to frequently visit and inspect these places and enhance his influence.

Any farther than that won’t work.

It is not a good thing for soldiers not to see their commander for a long time.

After listening to Shao Xun's words, Chen Yougen nodded first, and then couldn't help asking: "After we leave, what will you do in the Imperial Guards? You don't have any of your own people anymore."

"What are you talking about?" Shao Xun laughed: "Aren't Huang Biao, Yu An, Li Chong, Zhang Gu, and Wu Qian our own people? There are also so many old brothers. I led them to fight Zhang Fang, kill Meng Chao, and beat Shi Chao away. Are you still worried about not having your own people?"

Chen Yougen was a little hesitant.

He always felt that only the teaching team was the most reliable and they were General Shao's personal soldiers. No one else could do it.

"Don't think too much. Since I can lead you out, I can definitely lead more people out." Shao Xun said with a smile: "Some people are very clever in calculating to break up my old base, but as long as I am given enough time, I can still pull out a team. How can a general of the imperial army who travels around and talks all day long convince the soldiers?"

In fact, for those in power, every military reorganization is a good opportunity to break down the complex and intertwined relationships.

Break up your old troops, transfer you to new positions, and have new people under you. Most of the previous accumulation will be wasted, and everything will start from scratch. This is a necessary measure to avoid the formation of warlords in the army.

Even if Shao Xun was in charge of the reorganization, he would definitely do the same. Don't think of others as stupid.

Based on this idea, the only way is to poach talents in advance and save as much capital as possible.

Some people will always seek death, just wait for the opportunity.

After finishing the secret talk with Chen Yougen, Shao Xun went to find the father and son of the Mi family and agreed to recruit 1,500 soldiers of the Kingdom Army to go to Hongnong to serve as county soldiers.

No matter how loyal Mi Huang was to Sikong, he also had his own selfish motives in this matter. He did not refuse and even urged Shao Xun to get it done as soon as possible.

After all plans were finalized, the army slowly returned eastward and arrived in Luoyang at the end of March.

On the eighth day of April, Hua Tan ordered Cao Fu to put pressure on Wang Guojun and let him go outside the city to check the number of soldiers and weapons.

Shao Xun hesitated and did not agree.

On April 20th, Hua Tan urged again, but he still delayed.

On the first day of May, Wang Rong, the lieutenant of the Northern Army, personally ordered the disbanding of the Wang Guo Army. The soldiers were disbanded into teams and organized into the left and right guards of the imperial army together with more than 10,000 newly recruited soldiers.

This time, Shao Xun did not delay and cooperated very quickly.

At this point, the East Sea Kingdom Army, which was once powerful in Luoyang, became history.

Shao Xun also officially started his busy life of training soldiers, guarding the palace, and running his private business.

(End of this chapter)