[Chapter 2088 Red Wolf]
As expected by Su Bingwen and Song Yan, ten days later, the court’s order was passed to the military town of Liangzhou, mobilizing 3,000 troops to the northwest to suppress the rebels.
In addition, Liangzhou Prefecture was ordered to raise a thousand stone grains and 20,000 taels of silver for the army.
One stone is equal to one hundred catties, and one thousand stones is one hundred thousand catties of grain.
Sending troops and food also put Liangzhou in a dangerous situation. Even an honest official like Su Bingwen couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied with the court.
Moreover, the imperial court stipulated that the army must leave within five days.
“Ziyu, do you think this soldier can’t come out?”
In desperation, Su Bingwen could only discuss matters with Song Yan.
“I can’t do it, after all, this is the order of the imperial court!” Song Yan said.
“Then what should we do in Liangzhou City? If the barbarians attack, what can we do to resist!” Su Bingwen said.
Song Yan thought for a while and said, “The only way is to call new recruits for training!”
Hearing this, Su Bingwen felt distressed for a while. To recruit new recruits, it is necessary to pay the settlement fee. A recruit needs at least two taels of silver to settle down. Besides, it costs money to purchase weapons, armor, etc. In addition, it also costs money for training. .
If 3,000 recruits are called, it will cost about 20,000 taels.
Therefore, Su Bingwen is distressed for silver.
But he knew that if Liangzhou had insufficient soldiers, the barbarians were likely to take advantage of it. Therefore, it was imperative to recruit new soldiers.
So he nodded and said, “Ziyu, how many recruits do you think should be recruited?”
“Let’s recruit 10,000 first!” Song Yan said calmly.
“Ten thousand? So many!”
Su Bingwen looked surprised.
Song Yan said: “The military towns in various places are in ruins, and there is no army at all. Now the imperial court has dispatched troops and horses around, and it is not bad to have 50,000 people. The rebel army is expanding rapidly, and we are approaching the northwest. Once the rebel army defeats the imperial court. If there are not enough soldiers and horses, we will either be attacked by the barbarians or the city will be destroyed by the rebels. Therefore, if we want to protect the city of Liangzhou, we must We must expand the strength of the military town!”
“It’s not that bad, is it?” Su Bingwen’s face was a little ugly.
“What’s going on in our officialdom in Weiguo? Your lord should also have a certain understanding. Once the uprising in the northwest is successful, I am afraid that other places will rise up one after another. The troubled times are approaching. Only the military power is in hand, otherwise…!”
Having said that, Song Yan stopped talking. He believed that no matter how stupid Su Bingwen was, he would still be able to understand the meaning of his words.
He bowed his head in thought for a while.
Su Bingwen said: “Okay, then we will call up the new army, directly call 15,000, but this matter, we have to ask Ziyu, the old man can write articles, but I don’t know anything about military affairs!”
“Please don’t worry, adults!”
Song Yan nodded, he still appreciated Su Bingwen’s point, not greedy for power.
After getting the conscription order, Song Yan invited Liu Cheng to ask him to quickly post the conscription notice. The conscription requirements are very simple, anyone from 16 to 30 years old is eligible. The military pay is five coins.
Not long after Liu Cheng went down, Wu Jingwei came.
“Sir, what should I do at the end?”
Wu Jingwei is also extremely reluctant to this transfer.
Song Yan reminded: “This soldier must come out, but you can slow down on the road!”
The entire Northwest Territory has reached an extremely bad level, and I am afraid it will not be long before it will completely fall. As long as the speed is slow, it may not be able to catch up with the war.
Wu Jingwei’s eyes lit up and hurriedly saluted, “Thank you for reminding me!”
Liangzhou is located on the border, and the people are strong, but it is also poor. Therefore, it is very attractive to have a settlement fee of 20 taels after the election. Therefore, in just two days, 2,000 recruits were recruited.
At the same time, the three counties under the jurisdiction of Liangzhou also cooperated with the conscription.
Five days passed in the blink of an eye.
Seven thousand six hundred recruits were recruited in Liangzhou Mansion.
More than 3,800 people were gathered in the three counties, and the number of recruits exceeded 11,000.
Because Song Yan had specially warned them, the quality of this batch of recruits was all right.
Also on this day.
Wu Jingwei set off with three thousand soldiers and horses from the military town. After he was reminded by Song Yan, he actually only traveled fifteen miles on the first day. When he got this news, Song Yan couldn’t help but laugh and cry. He arrived at his speed. Northwest, I’m afraid it will have to wait until a month later.
The one who stayed behind in the military town was a lieutenant promoted by Wu Jingwei, named Sha Tianchen.
Before leaving, Wu Jingwei specially explained that he must cooperate with Song Yan well.
Therefore, Shacheng’s posture is very correct.
Three more days.
The 15,000 recruits were finally recruited, and there were 500 more.
then.
Song Yan directly asked Sha Tianchen to bring them back to the military town for training. As for the weapons and armors, they were intensified.
Armor of pure iron is impossible to build, at most speeding up the heartguard of iron on the chest.
As for weapons, spears are the main weapons, because only the head of the spear will use iron.
Even so, the weapons and armor of 15,000 people will cost more than 30,000 taels, plus the conscription costs another 30,000 taels, so it has already cost 60,000 taels before forming an army.
To train these new troops into an army, and to pay the army, I am afraid that it will cost 30,000 taels of silver.
He also copied Yuanjiabao before, Song Yan brought back more than 500,000 catties of grain, Wu Jingwei took away 100,000 catties, and there were still about 400,000.
As for silver.
Excluding this cost, there are at most 100,000 taels left.
For a 17,000-strong army, the salaries alone cost about 10,000 taels of silver, and the grain consumes more than 20,000 catties a day.
Therefore, you have to spend money to buy grain, and the 100,000 jins of grain and the 400,000 jins of grain can last for more than two months at most.
Another ten days passed.
Wu Jingwei was still dawdling on the road with three thousand troops, but the situation in the northwest had reached a precarious level, and only two cities were left to stand.
But there are not many soldiers and horses in these two cities.
One is only 5,000, and the other is only 3,000.
And the army mobilized by the court from all over the country only came to 8,000 people, and the rest are either still on the way or have not yet set off.
However, the insurgent army has reached 500,000 people.
Therefore, the eight thousand soldiers and horses mobilized by the imperial court did not dare to enter the northwest territory at all, but were stationed outside the country, waiting for the arrival of other soldiers and horses.
Three days later, one of the only two cities was attacked by the rebels.
The army mobilized by the imperial court barely reached 10,000.
But they still did not dare to attack the rebels.
Two days later, the last city in the northwest fell, which declared that the entire northwest was under the control of the rebels.
There were three leaders of the rebel army, said to be three brothers.
The eldest is Xue Ping, the second is Xue Cheng, and the third is Xue Shan.
After occupying the Northwest Province, some scholars who joined them suggested that the three be crowned kings.
But Xue Ping, the eldest, directly ordered the show to be pushed out and beheaded.
After getting the news.
Song Yan was somewhat interested in this Xue Ping.
Whether it is the history of this world or the history of the previous world, once the peasant uprising army developed rapidly in the early stage, but in the later stage, many leaders were addicted to enjoyment, and even many self-proclaimed generals and kings.
But such people usually end up being defeated and killed, but Xue Ping was able to resist the temptation to become king.
“Sir, Xifeng County Emergency News!”
Just as Song Yan was browsing the information from the northwest, a yamen hurriedly came to report.
Song Yan picked up the emergency newspaper and opened it, and his face suddenly sank. Two days ago, 8,000 people of the three barbarian tribes were shot to attack Xifeng County.
Xifeng County is the only medium-sized county in Liangzhou Prefecture. The entire county has only 500 county soldiers, while the Red Wolf Clan has dispatched 8,000 soldiers. Liangzhou Junzhen has only 2,000 veterans, and the rest of the recruits are still there. in training.
If you pull into the battlefield and face the cavalry of the red wolf clan, you will only be slaughtered.
After a little thought, Song Yan went to see Su Bingwen.
After learning this news, Su Bingwen’s whole face became bitter.
“Ziyu, what should I do?”
Su Bingwen said with a worried expression.
“The five hundred troops in Xifeng County can’t stop the Red Wolf clan’s attack, and it started two days ago. Therefore, if there is no accident, Xifeng County has been breached!”
Song Yan analyzed.
So Song Yan released the spies.
When the spies returned that night, they found out that West Wind City had not been breached.
“It’s good if it’s not broken! It’s good if it’s not broken!” Su Bingwen said happily.
“It’s not necessarily a good thing!”
Song Yan shook his head.
“Why did Ziyu say that?” Su Bingwen looked at him puzzled.
“Although the Red Wolves are all cavalry, do you think it is difficult to break through West Wind City?” Song Yan looked at Su Bingwen and asked.
“It’s not difficult!”
Su Bingwen thought about it.
Song Yan said again: “Since it’s not difficult why they don’t break the city, it’s very simple, their goal is the military town of Liangzhou, as long as the West Wind City is not broken, we have to send troops to reinforce, we only have 2,000 veterans, even if we bring all the recruits Going up, they are not the opponents of the Red Wolf Clan. Once the army in the military town is destroyed, what will we do in Liangzhou City to resist them, so the goal of the Red Wolf Clan this time is not Xifeng County at all, but Liangzhou Prefecture!”
Su Bingwen took a breath: “Then what should we do? Don’t go to reinforce Xifeng County?”
“If we don’t send reinforcements, Xifeng County will be destroyed!” Song Yan said again.
“Ziyu, I’ve been confused by what you said. What should I do? Just say it!” Su Bingwen said helplessly.
“Sir, I am willing to lead a thousand veterans to relieve the predicament in Xifeng County, and all the remaining soldiers and horses will be transferred to the palace city, so that Liangzhou Prefecture can be kept safe!”
“No, the old man doesn’t agree! You are not here to relieve the siege, you are here to die!”
Su Bingwen said loudly, one thousand infantry versus eight thousand cavalry, the result is no need to think, so, in his opinion, Song Yan is simply going to die.
Song Yan smiled confidently: “Sir, since the subordinate dares to propose this method, I have confidence!”
“But……!”
Song Yan thought about Su Bingwen’s words: “Sir, is there any other way besides this?”
“Ziyu, you are still young and have a bright future. This old man cannot let you take risks!” Su Bingwen said firmly.
