Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

The seventh day of the Lunar New Year is coming in a blink of an eye, and at this time, the armies in the Weibei wilderness have already gathered here, and the camps and schools have been renovated.

At this time, the so-called armies in the Weibei wilderness mainly consisted of the men and horses brought by Li Tai from Shannan Road, as well as the prisoners of war he had collected from the exiles and exchanged from the Northern Qi Dynasty.

After Li Tai received a message from Liang Rui asking for help, he ordered Gao Le to rush to Heluo with 5,000 men and horses as the vanguard, and Li Pei led 5,000 elite troops to enter Wuguan, while he himself led 20,000 men and horses to rush to Heluo.

The first round of mobilization was 30,000 troops. When Li Tai's army entered the Heluo area, he learned that the Chinese and foreign troops had abandoned Jiuqu City and fled west. Worried that the situation would collapse further, he ordered He Ruodun to assemble another 10,000 troops. On standby in Rangcheng.

Although the 10,000 men did not join the battle in the end, when Li Tai learned that the situation in Guanzhong had collapsed, he ordered Li Qianzhi to engage in contact negotiations with the Northern Qi Dynasty while ordering He Ruodun to lead the 10,000 men to Wuguan.

After the peace talks with the Northern Qi Dynasty were completed, Li Tai also successfully entered Tongguan, and once again ordered Shannan Daoxingtai to prepare personnel and supplies for him to control the situation after entering Guanzhong. So next, Shannan Road sent aid personnel and supplies to Guanzhong from several areas such as Miobei and Hanzhong, and then another 10,000 troops entered Guanzhong.

Therefore, the number of Shannan Dao troops who have entered Guanzhong has reached 50,000, but more than 20,000 of these 50,000 troops are Guanzhong soldiers who were detained by Li Tai in Shannan Dao after the Battle of Jiangling.

After the Battle of Jiangling, despite repeated pursuits by the Chinese and Foreign Governments, there were many delays in Shannan Road. Until Yuwentai raised his troops to march eastward, more than 30,000 Guanzhong soldiers who participated in the Battle of Jiangling were still stranded in Shannan.

Facts have proved that Li Tai's decision was relatively correct. If these more than 30,000 soldiers returned to Guanzhong, they would inevitably experience this defeat and civil strife.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry invested more than 100,000 troops in this eastern expedition. As a result, when the troops retreated from Tongguan, only a little over 20,000 troops were left. If the situation has not improved so far, then it can be said that most of the achievements in building the military system since the ninth year of Datong have been destroyed, and the situation faced by the Kansai Bafu will be more dangerous than the Battle of Mangshan in the ninth year of Datong.

That's why when Yuwenhu's mother asked Li Tai for a lighter sentence, Li Tai remained indifferent, because Yuwenhu, as the executor of Yuwentai's will and the final decision-maker of the army at that time, made the decision to evacuate Jiuqu City at that time. Forgive.

Because Li Tai entered the scene in time and successfully reversed the situation, many prisoners of war were exchanged during the subsequent negotiations with the Northern Qi Dynasty. More than 50,000 Chinese and foreign soldiers were rescued through his hands alone, which greatly reduced the situation. direct casualties caused by the war.

If we don't take into account the defeat in the first half and the chaos in Guanzhong, this campaign can also be called a victory. The direct casualties of the Northern Qi Dynasty were only much higher than those of the Western Wei Dynasty, especially the loss of Jinyang Xungui veteran Hu Lujin and some other important generals.

Some family hostages who had been stranded in Guandong since the division of the East and West were also able to come to Guanxi to reunite with their families. In addition to the family members of the Zhenbing soldiers, they also included many relatives of the Li family in Longxi from Guandong.

In addition to some troops who stayed at the borders such as Tongguan and western Henan, there were still hundreds of thousands of troops participating in the Weibei Parade. After a period of recuperation and reorganization, the soldiers of the Chinese and foreign government who had been dispersed and captured also regained some morale and regained a strong military atmosphere.

When the officials from Chang'an arrived in Weibei from the emperor and Tang Gongyi, they couldn't help but feel refreshed when they saw the majestic scene of a forest of flags and strong men and horses on the school grounds.

All the previous personnel turmoils and changes in power had made them worried, and all kinds of bad speculations were rising in their hearts. They just felt that if the Eastern Expedition had such a big setback, the best result would be a serious loss of vitality.

As for the various remarks that promote the victory, they are just public opinion exaggeration made by Tang Gong in order to enter the government. Everyone knows it in their own hearts. They just know what to say and what not to say, and they all have a tacit understanding.

But when these 100,000 troops were neatly displayed in front of them with strong morale, the slightly pessimistic and worldly thinking of these ministers finally changed. It turns out that the rumors were all true. Duke Tang really turned the tide in Heluo, turned defeat into victory, and displayed his normal brutality against the Northern Qi army as usual!

Compared with those who had to go through a lot of experience and changes in their thoughts, the soldiers in the Weibei wilderness, especially those from the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Bureau who were rescued by Li Tai and brought back to Guanzhong, were in a much more enthusiastic and sincere mood.

As soon as Li Tai's chariot appeared in the field of vision, these soldiers held their chests and heads high and saluted the flag of Tang Gong's chariot with attention, hoping to be noticed by Tang Gong's eyes. When the car drove closer, many generals in front of the array shouted loudly: "Tang Gong is mighty!"

There were also some soldiers in the camp who didn't know about the change in their title, so they beat their chests and shouted: "Death for the king!"

Such shouts came and went, and the soldiers all expressed their loyalty and enthusiasm to Duke Tang. They could not be said to be indifferent to His Majesty the Emperor, who was riding alongside Duke Tang, but they also turned a blind eye.

Li Tai was still a little worried about the emperor's mood, but the emperor himself laughed happily and said: "Before, I was worried that after the state affairs were in such turmoil, I was afraid that human relations would not be stable for a long time. Now I see that Duke Tang's reputation in the army is at its peak, and Duke Tang is worthy of his reputation." A great man who governs the country! I am also relieved that he has been entrusted with the affairs of the state."

Regardless of whether the emperor's words came from the bottom of his heart or not, Li Tai heard them more pleasantly. He has now reached the position of a powerful minister in the hegemony. Although the time is still a little short, his mentality is gradually changing.

Take today's scene as an example. The soldiers expressed their loyalty to him in front of the emperor, which gave people a pleasure that transcended ethics and morals. This was a feeling he had never experienced before when he was Lu.

Putting aside this little gimmick, Li Tai also gave full feedback to the enthusiastic expressions of the soldiers. Since all the armies have just experienced high-intensity battles, there are no acting battles arranged today. It is just an array review, and then the main event is to reward the officers and soldiers.

The current Fubing system still has a relatively strong private nature. Most of the Fubing sergeants are rural regiment armed and powerful tribes. Therefore, even if there are any reward activities, they usually only stop at the level of the governor general. As for how the governor general rewards his battalion soldiers, the Chinese and foreign government ignores them. And since the army was formed, large-scale rewards to the troops have been minimal.

However, most of the Chinese and foreign sergeants who were rescued by Li Tai have been disbanded from their original military units. Even today's review was the result of a rough reorganization. The generals and their battalion soldiers are no longer the original ones. Match. This is also one of the reasons why we don’t do high-intensity combat drills, because it’s still fine if we stand, but if we move, we’ll probably fall apart.

Of course, Li Tai could not allow these soldiers to restore their original rural and subordinate relationships, and a new reorganization was necessary, which happened to be done in conjunction with this reward.

Since the war experiences of the soldiers of Zhongshan South Road and Zhongwaifu were completely different during the Eastern Expedition, it would easily lead to disparity and antagonism if they were awarded purely based on military merit. Moreover, there was no record of meritorious deeds for the people of Zhongwaifu.

Therefore, this time Li Tai did not directly announce the specific reward, but instead awarded all soldiers who participated in the Eastern Expedition as knights. The title of knight is not just an honorary title. Once you obtain the status of knight, your status is higher than that of ordinary soldiers, and you are qualified to report your merits.

This provision seems a bit unnecessary. Isn't it common sense in running an army that meritorious service must be rewarded?

It’s really not the case. At least in the current military system of the Western Wei Dynasty, ordinary soldiers are not qualified to independently calculate and report their merits. They are absolutely dependent on their respective generals. Even if they have any achievements, they must be recorded in the generals’ names. From the Lord, all you can get are material rewards, but if you don't have special opportunities due to your status, you will only be a top soldier for the rest of your life.

Even the distribution of material rewards was unfair. After the Battle of Jiangling last year, Li Tai took the Nanliang treasury to reward the soldiers, and then the rewards were directly distributed among the troops. But the rewards that ordinary camp soldiers can receive are only the most basic rewards. On the other hand, the generals were all full of money.

Hyouto Qiuhachi is not only a contemptuous name for a person who values ​​culture over martial arts, but also suffers from a loss of social status due to the loss of economic status. The successful promotion of the North Town military leaders does not mean the improvement of the status of the entire town soldiers.

What's more, the current Fubing system is only an imitation and replication of the Zhenbing Fuhu system, and has not yet formed its own unique operating core. Many subsequent systems and regulations still need to be created and implemented.

Historically, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yu Wenyong, changed the sergeants of the army into servants and made the soldiers the guards of the emperor. This not only diluted the private nature of the soldiers, but also raised the political status of the soldiers.

But Li Tai is not the emperor now. Even if he wants to achieve the same goal, it is impossible to imitate Emperor Wu of Zhou. Emperor Wu of Zhou was the emperor, so he changed the rank of sergeants to servants. You are all my servants. Li Tai is a great hero of the country, so I changed the sergeant to a knight. You are all my younger brothers!

When the sergeants in the army learned that they had won the new title of "Honored Soldier", they first whispered and discussed in low voices, and then cheers gradually broke out among the ranks.

They are not very clear about the richer connotation of this title at the moment, but just because they can actually get an exclusive title like those pillar countries and generals to commend their merits and contributions, this has made them deeply aware of it. Sense of novelty and surprise.

However, Tang Gong has always been heroic, and there are still surprises waiting for them next.