Chapter 691 Pei Ju Seeks Help
Chapter 691 Pei Ju Seeks Help
Xiao Xia appointed Luo Shixin as the governor of Qizhou, Wang Bodang as the deputy governor, and Li Jing as the chief secretary, commanding 50,000 troops to garrison the four counties of Shandong Peninsula as well as Lu County, Langya County, Dongping County and Jibei County.
Xiao Xia then appointed Zhang Xutuo as the governor of Liangzhou, Qin Qiong as the deputy governor, and Yao Junsu as the chief secretary, leading 30,000 troops to garrison in Songcheng County and defend Liangjun, Pengchengjun, Qiaojun, Xiapijun and Donghaijun.
Xiao Xia then ordered the two to each select 50,000 soldiers from the surrendered soldiers for training.
Xiao Xia also appointed the Xue brothers to train 100,000 surrendered soldiers in the northern part of Jiangdu County. The lack of troops was indeed a big problem, and he had to expand the army.
One advantage for the newly surrendered soldiers was that they did not need to be paid a salary. Instead, they were given fifty mu of military merit land each. Even if a soldier died in battle, the military merit land would be given to his family.
Military merit land is also permanent land. Even if the imperial court implements a general land grant system in the future, military merit land is additional land and will not affect the land grant.
After the first Northern Expedition was completed, Xiao Xia turned his attention to the west.
Li Yuan captured Chang'an and made Yang You the emperor. This is the same as in history, but there are also differences. In history, after Emperor Yang Guang was assassinated in Jiangdu, Li Yuan immediately ascended the throne.
At this time, although the emperor died of illness, Li Yuan did not ascend the throne immediately. He was obviously waiting for the opportunity.
"Your Highness, Li Yuan is currently planning to go north, west, or south!"
Liu Wenjing calmly analyzed to Xiao Xia: "Go north to destroy Liu Wuzhou of Mayi County and Liang Shidu of Lingwu County, or go west to destroy Li Gui of Hexi Road, but these three forces are all backed by the Turks, and they are actually puppets of the Turks.
I believe that Li Yuan has not yet challenged the Turks, so he can only go south and seize Bashu. His next step must be to march south to Bashu and wipe out Yu Wenzhi. "
Xiao Xia paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. He walked to the sand table and stared at the Bashu land on it. After a while, he said, "Yu Wenzhi is too immoral and incompetent to defend Bashu. I'm thinking, why don't we take a share and let Li Yuan take it all for nothing?"
"What are your plans, Your Highness?"
Xiao Xia pointed at the Yangtze River with a wooden pole and said, "We can use our powerful navy to control Badong, Ba, and Lujiang counties. If conditions permit, we can also take over Fuling and Qianwei counties. By taking over these five counties, we can control the entire south of the Yangtze River, including Qian'an, Yangming, Zangke, and Yunnan."
Liu Wenjing pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness should fully consider the strength of the Guanlong nobles' full support for Li Yuan. Hedong, Guanzhong, Guannei, and Longyou have not been destroyed by bandits and are still rich and powerful. There are still a large number of Xianbei soldiers in the army with strong combat effectiveness. Coupled with the financial and talent support of the Guanlong nobles and Guanlong families, Li Yuan's strength is close to that of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and is no less than ours. I advise Your Highness not to rush for quick success."
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "The Chief Secretary wants me to not attack Bashu?"
"No! I support Your Highness to occupy a corner of Bashu. It is enough to take over Badong County and Ba County as strategic nodes to control Bashu. As for Qianzhong Road and Yunnan Road, don't consider them for the time being, so as not to disperse too much energy and resources. Secondly, I advise Your Highness to take over Nanyang, Xiyang and Fangling counties as a buffer for Xiangyang County."
Xiao Xia nodded, "Let the Council of State discuss this. If everyone agrees, we'll make it happen!"
As expected, the Zi Zheng Tang unanimously agreed to Liu Wenjing's plan.
Xiao Xia immediately appointed Zhou Faming, the governor of Nanjun, as the governor of Bazhou, and ordered him to lead 20,000 troops to Badong County. At the same time, he ordered Shen Guang, a general of the Tianjing Army, to lead 3,000 naval forces and 50 warships to cooperate with Zhou Faming to go to Bazhou.
At the same time, Xiao Xia ordered Sun Lei, the governor of Xiangzhou, to lead an army of 30,000 to attack Nanyang County and Xiyang County. Nanyang County was currently occupied by Zhu Can and the Wu brothers with thousands of remnants of the army, and another 20,000 troops were recruited.
Although Wu Yunzhao and Wu Tianxi were the names given to them by Crown Prince Yang Yong, they were completely different from the Wu brothers in the novel. Their martial arts were only above average, and they were not even ranked fifth or sixth in the world. Their character was also poor, and they were extremely bandit-like. They were definitely not the descendants of loyal ministers and famous families in the novel.
Xiao Xia had no interest in the two of them and just wanted to find an opportunity to destroy them.
The same is true for Xiong Kuohai. Although Xiong Kuohai can be called the best assassin in the world, his martial arts skills on the battlefield are also above average. At most, he can fight Qin Qiong to a draw, and is far from being a match for Luo Shixin. Therefore, Xiao Xia has no interest in these pseudo-novel characters. On the contrary, he admires Yuwen Chengdu very much. Unfortunately, Yuwen Chengdu and him are not destined to be together, and he finally surrendered to Li Yuan.
At this time, news came from Bashu that Yu Wenzhi killed the puppet emperor Yang Hao, proclaimed himself emperor, and named the country Shu.
This was inevitable. Yu Wenzhi's purpose in establishing the false emperor was to hope that the whole world would submit to the new emperor. However, the reality went against his wishes. No one recognized the new emperor, not even the rebel armies in various places.
Since no one recognized that there was no need for the Sui Dynasty emperor to exist, why didn't he become the emperor himself? After just a few months, Yu Wenzhi killed the puppet emperor.
That morning, Xiao Xia was reviewing documents in the government office when Lu Miao reported at the door: "Your Highness, Governor Pei of Danyang County wants to see you!"
The governor of Danyang County was Pei Xuanji, the son of Pei Ju, and Xiao Xia's old colleague in Zhangye. Xiao Xia put down his pen and said with a smile, "Please ask him to come in!"
After a moment, Pei Xuanji hurried into the official room and bowed, "I, your humble servant, pay my respects to His Majesty the Regent!"
"When did Envoy Pei come to Jiangdu?"
"Your Highness, I have just disembarked from the ship!"
Xiao Xia nodded. "Your Excellency is in such a hurry to find me. What happened?"
Pei Xuanji took out a letter and presented it to Xiao Xia, "This is a letter my father wrote to Your Highness. His entourage brought it from Chengdu. Please have a look, Your Highness!"
Xiao Xia hurriedly took the letter and read it carefully. It turned out to be a letter from Pei Ju asking for help, begging him to rescue him and bring him back to Jiangnan. He really did not want to be loyal to Yu Wenzhi or Li Yuan, and only wanted to continue to be a minister of Sui.
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "Since Pei Gong has asked me for help, I will do my best to help him leave Bashu."
Xiao Xia immediately summoned Li Luming and Zhang Liang.
"Today I received a letter from Pei Ju asking for help, begging me to get him out of Chengdu. This matter is of great importance. Not only Pei Ju, but I also want to get some other officials out as well. I want the Internal Security Department and the Intelligence Department to work together to accomplish this."
Li Luming and Zhang Liang bowed together and said, "Yes, sir!"
Xiao Xia then asked Zhang Liang, "What I am most worried about now is the time issue. How many people are available in Chengdu from the Intelligence Department?"
"Reporting to Your Highness, there are thirteen people, from our Jiangnan Trading Company, led by Song Changen."
Xiao Xia nodded and said, "It's easy to get people out of Chengdu, but it's hard to get them out of Shu. Yu Wenzhi's army will definitely chase them, so the inner guards must participate and rescue them by water."
Li Luming said, "Your Highness, the head of the inner guard navy, Shi Xiaozhen, is really good at clearing out pirates in the Nanjun area. I can ask him to go to Chengdu to support us!"
Xiao Xia nodded happily, "Send him a pigeon letter immediately!"
(End of this chapter)