Chapter 458: Liaodong

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Liaodong was originally the old land of the Tang Dynasty, and during the Tianbao period, the Pinglu Festival was set up to make the envoy of the Pinglu Festival, sugar

In the fourteenth year of Tianbao, the Anshi Rebellion started, An Lushan led the main force to the south, and Pinglu Jiedu made Xu Guidao's general Hou Xiyi unwilling to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, so he attacked and killed Xu Guidao with Xuanzhi, the protector of Andong, and returned to the imperial court.

In the first year of the Qianyuan Dynasty, Pinglu Jiedu made Wang Xuanzhi sick and died, and the general Li Huaiyu killed Wang Xuanzhi's son, and promoted the general Hou Xiyi as the Jiedu envoy, and the court reluctantly agreed.

In the second year of Shangyuan, Hou Xiyi saw that Pinglu was difficult to defend, so he went south to Shandong and captured Qingzhou. In May of the first year of Baoying, he was awarded the envoy of Pinglu and Ziqing to pacify the rebellion of Anshi, and led the six prefectures of Qing, Zi, Qi, Yi, Mi and Hai.

The eastern part of the Pinglu Army, Yingzhou and other places belonged to the Lu Long Army, and the east of Yingzhou fell to the Khitan, Murowei and other departments, called the Tang Dynasty, which was actually beyond the reach of the whip, but fortunately these tribes did not establish a state, which was regarded as leaving a little thin face for the Tang Dynasty.

Li Mao said goodbye to Wang Jian, and traveled thousands of miles through the reckless forests and grasslands, but he could not find the Ministry of Clerk Cheng, Zhu Jiu and other departments, and the old shogunate department that came to Liaodong in advance was far away in Beisha City at the moment, and he could not be contacted, Li Mao was quite distressed for a while.

In the autumn of the twentieth year of Zhenyuan, Wen Cheng crossed the sea to Beisha City, raised his banner, gathered the old Qing Navy Department, and when he boarded the ship from Dengzhou, the total number of people in the department was more than 6,000 people, and three ships capsized in the wind and waves on the way, about 500 people died in the sea, and 36 people died of illness, a total of 5,876 people arrived safely in Liaodong.

After resting for ten days in Beisha City, the Wencheng and Sang Rongdu brigades took offshore boats to the mouth of the Liao River.

Encountering bandits at Yanshanzhai at the mouth of the Liaohe River, Sang Rong was hit by eight wounds and repelled the bandits. Three hundred men were killed in this battle, and one hundred and twenty women and children were taken captive.

In mid-October of that year, Li Mao received a letter from Wen Cheng, saying that he had settled in Yingpankou in the middle and lower reaches of the Liao River, with a population of only 4,800 and a loss of three-fifths of his grain.

But soon after the fortress was broken by the Khitans, had to continue to migrate north along the river, found a piece of flat land to set up a village, less than half a year and was attacked by the Murwei people, so migrated again, several times later, barely in the distance from the mouth of the Liao River 180 miles to stand still, the number of people and horses is less than 2,000 people, the situation is precarious.

In the summer of the second year, Mao Taigong and Zhu Jiu led their troops to cross the sea to Liaodong with 800 people, first met with Sangrong in Beisha City, replenished supplies, and then traveled up the Liao River by boat, and met with the Wencheng Department in the autumn of this year.

Li Maoren did not arrive in Liaodong, the envoy had arrived, and he contacted the clerk, Mao Taigong, Zhu Jiu and others everywhere, but there was no news, and it was winter, and everyone had no choice but to use all their strength to capture a small cottage on the branch of the Liaohe River, renamed the Rising Sun City, and temporarily accommodated.

At the same time, the wind was released, saying that Li Qingmo, a wealthy businessman in Datang, bought furs at a high price here, and the price was ridiculously high for every three catties of salt for a fur.

When the news came out, it immediately caused a sensation in half of Liaodong, people speculated that this Li Qingmo was either a fool or a liar, and the suspicion soon reached the ears of the clerk, so soon after, his messenger arrived in the city of the rising sun, this person was the old department of the Qing Navy, and he recognized Li Mao, and saw that the legendary Li Qingmo was really the Li Mao that the clerk was looking for, and he was busy submitting the letter of the clerk, and it was regarded as the head.

It turned out that the wind and rain in eastern Liaodong were not smooth this year, and the harvest of the forest and grassland tribes was not good.

Li Mao's envoy couldn't find anyone at first, and he couldn't enter the city if he found someone, and he couldn't get out when he entered, so he was delayed.

Li Mao was overjoyed, replied to the clerk, and chose a day to go to the cross, although the name of the Rising Sun City is big, but the place is actually very small, and dozens of families cannot afford to support their team.

Because of the gold-lettered signboard of Xue Luoke, soon after entering Liaodong, Li Mao pulled up a team of more than 300 people, most of whom were Xi people, and a small number of them were Han rangers, fugitives and bankrupts who wandered here.

The core of this team is Wang Jian lent to Li Mao fifty archery cavalry, they are dressed in iron armor, armed with excellent bows and crossbows, the combat effectiveness is very amazing, so that the attached Xi people are happy and convinced, although there is their king, but still desperately bow to Li Mao's feet, although this team lacks lessons, it is still a rabble, but loyal enough, it is a good start.

Li Mao jokingly called it the third division of the Andong Army, and appointed Luo Ke and Shi Xiong as the chief and deputy commanders, the Tang Dynasty army has an army, battalions, brigades, regiments, and teams, but there is no division, Li Mao quoted classics and said that the division as a first-class army system, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, did not hear of the "division of the tiger", "the division of the Son of Heaven", "the division of the king".

Among the people, Li Mao has the highest academic accomplishment, and although everyone feels that it is inappropriate, they have no way to refute it, so they have to talk nonsense.

Qin Mo only asked one question: "You said that the division is an ancient army formation, one level lower than the army, higher than the battalion, regiment, and brigade, I don't have anything to say, although I know that you are talking about it." But why is our division the third, and to whom is the first and second divisions left?"

Li Mao said with a smile: "Everything must be talked about first-come, first-come, first-come, who comes first." ”

Qin Mo blinked and said with a smile: "Gao Ming, insidious, you are going to smiling at them." ”

Li Mao said: "Hugh wants to say this, Liaodong was originally my Liaodong, I first served as the deputy envoy of the guard pro-army Yangdao Army to judge the right side of the Liaodong Zhucheng Pacification Envoy, and then as the Liaocheng Prefecture Assassin Shi Chong Liaodong Economic Strategy, on time, on reputation, I am the lord of Liaodong, why do they rob me"

It is still very rare for Li Mao to say so bluntly, and that kind of aggressive momentum is also very different from the tolerance and humility he usually shows, Qin Mo is a little surprised and a little worried.

Li Maoping calmed his emotions and said with a smile: "These words are not easy to say, but it is more fatal not to say that it is more fatal to hold it in your heart, there are thousands of people in the family, one person in charge, who will be in charge, this matter must be clarified, and it must be straightened out sooner or later, and sooner rather than later, although I am domineering, my intentions are good, and it is better than making bad things behind my back." ”

Qin Mo's face was rarely solemn, he nodded, and said, "That's fine, it's straightened out at the beginning, and it will save a lot of trouble in the future." In this case, you clean up slowly, and I'll go to the first station first. ”

Li Mao understood and said, "I believe they can still understand the general situation." ”

Ten days later, Li Mao led his troops to the walled city of Wencheng, this place is called the cross ferry, also called the small ferry, there were 3,200 people in the heyday of the old days, the southwest of the town is near the Liao River, the northwest is the river, there are mountains in the northeast, the southeast is a flat and fertile field, the terrain is high in the north and low in the south, the situation is easy to defend and difficult to attack. From the Anshi Rebellion to the Zhenyuan period, decades of camps and gatherings, very rich, entrenched here Khitan people have been coveted, and the fierce battle with the town for decades has not been successful.

In the sixteenth year of Zhenyuan, Liaodong was extremely cold, the main channel of the Liaohe River was frozen, the Khitan people crossed the river through the ice, broke through the camp, led the young and strong in the village, the old and weak to the river and slaughtered them, and plundered the women and children, and the town was ruined.

At the beginning of the 21st year of Zhenyuan, the clerks fled to this place, dispersed the displaced people, took advantage of the weakness to enter and forcibly occupy it for themselves, built a fortress, strengthened the city wall, and the old department of the Qing Dynasty Navy settled down here, and then opened a canal to divert water, farmed and raised sheep, and finally settled down. However, the clerk did not know the soldiers, and the department was old and weak, and it was very difficult to deal with the invasion of the surrounding forest tribes, and he was about to abandon the city and move again, but it happened that Mao Taigong and Zhu Jiu crossed the sea and came, and the two joined forces together, and the situation was fundamentally improved.

The clerk is good at business and not good at force, Mao Taigong, although Zhu Jiu is strong in force, but he doesn't know how to make a living, one has a family and is difficult to take care of, and the other is living a life like a rogue in the reckless forest, hungry and full, and life is very difficult.

Li Maoshi was in Weizhou, learned of the situation, and wrote a letter instructing Zhu Jiu and the clerk to merge into one, Zun clerk Cheng as the head, and he and Mao Taigong were in charge of martial arts guards, and both sides could accept this suggestion, so they converged.

After that, the clerk presided over the government affairs, and Mao Taigong and Zhu Jiu were in charge of the military.

Yongzhenqiu, Mao Taigong and Zhu Jiu set up an ambush in Hedong to trap the biggest threat of the cross-ferry, the Heizhi Murwei Division, beheaded 700, captured 500, and completely expelled this Murwei tribe from Liaodong. After this battle, Zhu Jiu and Mao Taigong successively wiped out several bandits in the surrounding forests, and barely gained a foothold in Liaodong.

At this time, Liaodong is much warmer and wetter than later generations, the forest coverage rate is extremely high, there are large grasslands between the forests, after the Anshi Rebellion, the Pinglu army went south to Ziqing, the Han people lost their protection, could not bear the barbarian infestation, they moved away from Liaodong one after another, a large number of towns were abandoned, and the farmland was barren.

The nomadic peoples who were active in this period included the Khitan, Xi, Yan and Murowei, with the Khitan and Murowei having the largest number and the strongest strength. There are often wars between various ethnic groups for the pastures with abundant water and grass, and the winner is the king, and the loser is the villain.

In addition, there are also a small number of walled cities controlled by Han remnants in the coastal and riverine areas, with large crowds gathering in the thousands, and the few ranging from dozens to hundreds. The Rising Sun City occupied by Li Mao is a walled city established by the Han people and occupied by the Khitans, and the Khitans have the deepest degree of sinicization among the barbarians, and some ethnic groups have adapted to settled life.

Cross ferry in the southeast of the Rising Sun City, two hundred miles in a straight line, from the Rising Sun City to the south, take a boat along the Liao River to the south, travel by boat is slower than by horse, but relatively safe, along the river there are many Han people walled cities, and the nomads are not good at boating, the boat travels in the river, it is much safer than the horse team to travel through the forest.

Along the way, Li Mao carefully inspected the towns along the way, and found that although they were Han towns, they also claimed to be subjects of the Tang Dynasty, and their desire to return to the Tang Dynasty was not strong.

Those barbarian peoples in the forest and on the grassland are fierce and warlike, but the Han people's city-building and defending skills are first-class, and their walled cities are not so easy to fight, unless they really can't survive, under normal circumstances, very few people dare to take risks and dare to harass, and the tribes in Liaodong are generally not strong, calculate the account, fight, even if they win, they may make wedding clothes for others, which is very not cost-effective, but it is better to intimidate.

It takes time to grow crops, and stability can bring wealth, so the Han people love peace and don't like turmoil, so they create chaos, intimidate them, and force each walled city to pay some silk cloth, salt and iron to them symbolically every year, as long as they are obedient and can live, then live in harmony, less fighting, no fighting.

Although the extortion of the barbarians is annoying and hateful, it is much lighter than the expropriation and extortion of the government, and it is within the tolerance of the Han people everywhere.

So Hermes-Epitek spent money to buy peace, and then buried himself in creating wealth, and the barbarians had no means of making a living, and they wanted to cause harm, but because they could reap additional benefits, they could live a life, and this delicate human ecosystem was maintained.

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