Chapter 335 Recruiting Talents
Chapter 335 Recruiting Talents
Xiao Xia was startled, "What's your name?"
The young general bowed and said, "My name is Luo Shixin, and I am from Licheng County, Qi County!"
Xiao Xia was overjoyed. He had unexpectedly recruited Luo Shixin by accident. Fortunately, he did not give the order to shoot.
Xiao Xia wanted to ask about Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin's situation, but it was not easy to ask now, so he said to his personal soldiers: "Take General Luo down to rest!"
Several personal soldiers stepped forward and clasped their fists, saying, "General Luo, please follow us!"
The word "General Luo" made Luo Shi's confidence blossom. He threw away his spear, saluted Xiao Xia again, and followed several personal soldiers down.
Xiao Xia watched his back go away, then looked around. At this time, the battle had come to an end. The wilderness was full of surrendering soldiers. There were also a few armies that fought desperately to break out, but they were only a very small minority.
This was a classic surprise attack, with fire burning down the camps. With only 40,000 troops, they defeated an army of 150,000. More than 10,000 people were killed or burned to death, and only a few thousand escaped. The remaining hundreds of thousands of troops all became prisoners of war of the Sui army.
At the same time, Zhou Fashang also led 10,000 Sui troops to attack the north bank, leaving only a few thousand soldiers escorting tens of thousands of grain carts across the Yellow River.
They were no match for the Sui army, and after hundreds of them were killed, the remaining soldiers surrendered one after another.
Zhou Fashang immediately took control of the pontoon bridge, on which there were thousands of grain carts piled, making it difficult to move forward or backward. Zhou Fashang ordered the soldiers to direct the grain carts to speed up the evacuation.
Zhou Fashang ordered his men to take the prisoners of war to the south bank, and left two thousand men to guard the grain carts. He himself led eight thousand troops to attack Liyang Warehouse.
Zhai Rang, Shan Xiongxin and others led the army to break out of the siege. At dawn, only more than a thousand soldiers were left. Cui Rang was a local and was familiar with the terrain. He took Shan Xiongxin, Hou Junji, Hao Xiaode and others to lead the remaining troops to Wagangzhai, a hundred miles away, to take temporary shelter.
The sky gradually brightened and the fire in the camp gradually died down. You Junda led tens of thousands of soldiers to clean up the burned camp and take out useful supplies and money.
There were countless treasures of the National Protection Association in the military camp, including millions of copper coins alone, as well as a large amount of gold, silver, cloth, silk and other valuables.
Some of the cloth and silk were burned, but other property was intact. Only a small part of the grain was burned, but most of it was intact.
In addition, more than 100,000 heads of livestock, 20,000 war horses, and 300,000 sheep were seized.
Hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war sat in the wilderness outside the southern city of Baima County. The Sui army comforted the prisoners and promised not to kill them but to let them reunite with their families.
The prisoners of war were all in a calm mood, waiting for their final decision.
The main purpose of Xiao Xia's attack this time was to recruit prisoners of war and soldiers with good physical conditions, which would greatly expand his own military strength and prepare for the next step of capturing Luoyang.
At this time, Sun Lei walked up to Xiao Xia and said, "General Manager, we have not found any trace of Gao Zhu. He is not among the prisoners of war or the bodies of the dead. I heard that Gao Shida led more than a thousand people to break out and escape to the east. There were some scholars among them. It is very likely that Gao Zhu was among them."
Xiao Xia waved his hand, "Don't worry about them for now, start recruiting prisoners of war!"
Pei Wen'an, Wei Zheng and others led twenty staff members to set up a large tent and began to register prisoners of war and recruit soldiers.
Sun Lei led thousands of soldiers to select tall and strong soldiers from the prisoners of war.
These hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war were all in good physical condition and were elite soldiers selected by the Baoguo Kingdom from hundreds of thousands of people. The Sui army then conducted a second selection, and in addition to those who were tall and strong, if fathers and sons were in the army together, the fathers would go home, and if brothers were in the army together, the elder brother would go home.
Dozens of generals and clerks were brought to Xiao Xia. Xiao Xia looked at the list of generals and clerks and actually found several famous people from the Sui and Tang dynasties.
The first person to be brought up was a military officer in his twenties named Fang Xuanling. Yes, it was Fang Xuanling, the prime minister of the early Tang Dynasty. He was a native of Qi County and was recruited by the Baoguo Association and appointed as a military officer.
Fang Xuanling was a little uneasy. He had been a prisoner of war for less than a month after joining the National Protection Association. Xiao Xia smiled and said, "I know that Master Fang is a talented person. I won't mention the past. From now on, Master Fang, are you willing to be my staff member?"
Fang Xuanling was stunned for a moment, then quickly bowed and said, "I am willing to serve the general manager!"
Xiao Xia was delighted and appointed him as his second-level staff. Xiao Xia also selected a dozen young scholars with good calligraphy from the captured clerks and appointed them as third-level staff to participate in the registration of new soldiers together with Fang Xuanling.
In addition to Luo Shixin who had been recruited before, there were also two famous generals from the late Sui Dynasty, Wang Junkuo and Wang Bodang.
Wang Junkuo was about thirty years old. He led a group of bandits to rob houses in Taihang Mountains. He joined the National Protection Association army not long ago, but Gao Zhu despised him for being a bandit. Since he brought hundreds of people to join him, he reluctantly gave him the title of Lang Jiang.
Wang Bodang had just joined the National Protection Association half a month ago. He was also very young, only in his early twenties. The key point was that he was skilled in martial arts and archery. He was also named Lang Jiang by Gao Zhu and selected into the Royal Guard.
Wang Junkuo and Wang Bodang heard Xiao Xia say that they could be appointed as Generals of the Central Army and included in the list of military officers. Who would be willing to work in a private enterprise if they had a regular position? They were overjoyed and immediately knelt down and said, "We are willing to serve the general as dogs and horses!"
Xiao Xia was overjoyed. This was a good battle. Not only did he gain a large number of troops, but he also gained several talented generals from the end of the Sui Dynasty, all of whom were pillars of the country.
More than 100,000 people were selected from morning to dusk, and finally the selection was completed. Exactly half of them, 70,000 people, were incorporated into the new Liangzhou Army.
The remaining soldiers were each given a few dou of rice and a string of coins, and after they crossed the Yellow River, they went home.
As a result, Xiao Xia's army increased sharply from 60,000 to 130,000.
Two days later, news came from the north bank that Zhou Fashang led an army of 10,000 to capture Liyang Warehouse.
Xiao Xia ordered General Li Yan to lead 10,000 troops to support Liyang Granary. At the same time, he appointed Zhou Fashang as the governor of Jizhou. He ordered him to guard the most important granary of the Sui Dynasty. There were more than 10 million shi of grain in the granary, which could be called the guardian granary of the Sui Dynasty.
Xiao Xia also ordered General Miao Shaoling to lead 10,000 troops to garrison Baima County, so that the north and the south could echo each other and connect Liyangcang and Dongjun into one.
Xiao Xia led the rest of the army back to Chenliu County to continue intensive training.
Emperor Yang Yong appointed his third son Yang Jun as the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route, Pei Ju as the chief secretary in charge of logistics, and the veteran general Wei Xuan as the deputy general, and led an army of 150,000 to attack Puzhou Pass.
He also appointed his second son, Prince of Chu Yang Yu, as the commander-in-chief of the western route, with Changsun Sheng as his deputy general and Yuanshou as the chief secretary, to lead 80,000 troops to station in Fufeng County to fight against the 60,000 troops of Prince of Qin Yang Jun.
At this time, Yuwen Shu had led his troops back to Hedong County and stationed on the east bank of the Yellow River to confront the Tang army.
Veteran General Wei Xuan was experienced and was not in a hurry to attack. He also stationed his troops at Puzhou Pass and Tongguan Pass, confronting the Han army on the basis of strict defense.
But King Yang Jun of Qi was very dissatisfied. They clearly had an army of 150,000, while the other side had only 50,000 troops. Their strength was three times that of the enemy. Why were they still timid and dared not attack?
Yang Jun gritted his teeth and said to his staff Huang Quan: "My father asked me to follow Wei Xuan's plan. I thought he was going to attack Hedong with all his strength, but I didn't expect him to strengthen the defense. I hate it so much!"
Huang Quan rolled his eyes and followed Yang Jun's thoughts and said, "I also think that General Wei's tactics are quite unwise. You know, what the rebels need most is time. They need time to train their troops and integrate the Hebei Military Headquarters. We should attack with all our strength and not give the rebels time."
Yang Jun nodded, "You're right, we are completely putting the cart before the horse now!"
Yang Jun immediately called Wei Xuan to his tent to question him.
"We are the ones who came here to wipe out the rebels, but now it seems like the rebels are here to wipe us out. Aren't we a match for them?"
(End of this chapter)