The death of the concubine Cui Huitong greatly weakened the power of the princess mansion of the Jin Kingdom, coupled with the heavy blow to the Taiyuan royal family and Xiao Jiong's imprisonment, the political situation in the military and political circles of Hedong was reshuffled.

In this process, it can be said that Zhao Ziliang contributed the most, but it was the festival that made Tian Renwan get the greatest benefit, Tian Renwan himself used to have thirty percent of the power in Hedong, after a series of changes in the past few months, Tian Renwan's power control in Hedong reached sixty percent, and Zhao Ziliang also got a lot, he held two and a half of the power of the entire Hedong, and the remaining one and a half percent were still in the hands of the family and the imperial relatives.

Now Zhao Ziliang has the right to appoint and dismiss thirty-six official positions, which makes him in Yunzhou's left wing of the military and horse envoy's mansion every day is an endless stream of visitors, the reason why these people come here is very simple, is to take a fancy to the thirty-six official positions in his hands, these people come to visit him every day, and the accompanying family members and subordinates use carriages to pull boxes of gold, silver and copper coins or antique calligraphy and paintings, jewelry and jade, to send these filial piety and a pledge of allegiance.

Wu Zetian once said: "Officialdom is the most dangerous place in the world, but there are still countless people rushing to pounce on it, like moths to a fire!" That's the charm of the right."

It was not easy for Zhao Zihao to get these thirty-six official positions, and the level of these official positions was not low, of course, it was impossible to give them to others casually, even if someone used a carriage to drag more gold and silver.

For some people who came to serve, Zhao Ziliang not only accepted gold and silver, but also did not give them official positions, and for some people, even if there were no gold and silver gifts, Zhao Ziliang also gave them official positions.

After more than a month of investigation and testing, all the 36 official positions in Zhao Ziliang's hands were also released, and he also officially had a certain amount of influence in Hedong, and his influence was not only all over the military, but also many of his people in the political circles.

In August (lunar calendar), the crops in the tuntian fields of the army under Zhao Ziliang grew well, and the harvest season was seen, and the fields were endless golden yellow.

In fact, Zhao Ziliang didn't spend too much energy and thought on the matter of Tuntian, all of which were handed over to Zheng San to take care of, judging from the current situation, Zheng San spent a lot of energy on the matter of Tuntian, otherwise this year's Lan Army, Datong Army and Yunzhong Guarding Tuntian would not have such a large scale, nor would it be possible to have such a good harvest.

At the end of September, the crops were completely ripe, and under the order of Zhao Ziliang, the soldiers and civilians of the three prefectures immediately grabbed all the grain and forage, and the harvest was quite impressive, not only did they have enough grain and grass to go out on the expedition, but also the hoarded grain and grass could support the harvest until next summer.

When the grain and grass were put into storage, news came from Mobei that the Turkic Usumish Khan led his troops to flee to the north of Jinshan, but was blocked by the western tribes of Qarluq.

The two sides fought a big battle at the northern foot of the Jinshan (Altai Mountains), and Usumish was killed on the spot, and his men were either killed or surrendered, and the whole army of more than 8,000 people was annihilated.

A few days after the killing of Usumish Khan and the annihilation of the entire army, the news reached Mobei, and the Mobei Turkic tribes re-elected the new Khan as the Baimei Khan to continue to lead the Turkic tribes, but at this time, the strength of the Mobei Turks was greatly reduced, and the scope of strength was also greatly reduced, and the reduced sphere of influence was all divided by Ba Ximi, Hui and Qarluq.

The news was brought by Lin Yi, who is now in charge of Zhao Ziliang's intelligence collection in Mobei, and in the past four or five months, he has used the caravan to establish a set of intelligence collection and transmission networks in Mobei.

After listening to Lin Yi's report, Zhao Ziliang asked, "What is the situation on the side of General Wang Zhongsi of the Shuofang Army?" ”

Lin Yiyu reported: "General Wang Zhongsi is currently stationed in the west north of the Yellow River to surrender to the city, and there is no sign of dispatch!" ”

Zhao Ziliang thought for a while, and beckoned to Qiu Zhen, who had joined the army: "Send fast horses to Zhang Shouyu, the envoy of the Lan army, Xue Qianxun, the deputy envoy of the Datong army, and Wu Tiande, who is guarding the clouds, and let them rush to Yunzhou within three days after receiving the order!" ”

"No!"

On 28 September, Zhao Ziliang held a military meeting at the Zuoxiang Soldiers and Horses Mission in Yunzhou, and in addition to Zhang Shouyu, Xue Qianxun, and Wu Tiande, several major officials and generals in the palace also participated in the military meeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, two days ago, news came from Mobei that the Turkic Usumish Khan was recently beheaded by the Ishish Khan led by the Ba Xi Mijie Fall Ishan Khan north of Jinshan, and his troops either died or surrendered, and the whole army was wiped out! Now the Turkic tribes have elected a new khan, called the White Eyebrow Khan, who is said to be the younger brother of Usumish. After Ashinash established himself as the Khan of Ishmijie and fell to Ish-Khan, he canonized the eastern leader of Qarluq, Wuli, as the left killer, and the Hui leader Guli Peiluo as the right killer. But there are also rumors that the relationship between Ashinash, the leader of the eastern part of Qarluq, and the leader of the eastern part of the Qarluq, Wuli and the head of the Hui, Guli Peiluo, is not harmonious, and the Wuli and Guli Peiluo are jealous of the growing tribe of Ashinash, and they are afraid that Ashinash's tribe will attack the two of them and their tribes, so they are extremely wary of Ashinash, and from all indications, Ashinash, Guli Peiluo and Wuli These three people who were originally allies are now disliked because of the change in the situation, and the general dares to assert, The three of them must fight each other, this is the fate of the tribes on the grassland, but in any case, our Tang Dynasty must not let a certain tribe unify the Mobei grassland, because that is not in the interests of my Datang, what I need in the Tang Dynasty is a chaotic Mobei, not a unified, stable and increasingly powerful Mobei, now they have not yet fought, there is still a period of time before they fight each other, and what we have to do is to take advantage of this time to first take the Khitan north of us, Xi and Tongluo and the other clans are all eradicated, even if they can't be eliminated, they must be weakened, driven further north, so that they can't and dare not go south to invade our Tang border at will! I have summoned you here today to discuss the dispatch of troops."

Under Zhang Shouyu's rectification, training and management, the Lan army has completely changed, and he stood up with great confidence and bowed his hand to Zhao Ziliang: "General, now that we are strong and strong, with sufficient grain and grass, weapons and armaments, it is the time to rejuvenate the Northern Expedition, please give the general an order!" ”

Wu Tiande, who was guarding the clouds, also stood up and saluted: "Yes, general, please give an order, I, Wu Tiande, am willing to lead the Yunzhong army as the vanguard to open the way for the army!" ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head at Wu Tiande in his conscience, Wu Tiande's loyalty is unquestionable, but his talent is mediocre, let him train the troops and preside over the rectification of military discipline, but it is not possible to let him lead the troops to fight.

Zhao Ziliang asked, "General Zhang, how many cavalry does your Lan army have now?" ”

Zhang Shouyu said: "Two thousand eight hundred horses, of which the elite has one thousand eight hundred horses!" ”

Zhao Ziliang asked Yunzhong to capture Wu Tiande again: "General Wu, how many cavalry does the Yunzhong Army have?" ”

"Three thousand cavalry, all elite!"

Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and said: "With the 3,000 cavalry of the Datong Army, there are a total of 8,800 cavalry, and the elite is more than 7,000. Where are Xue Qianxun and Zheng San? ”

"The last general!" Sima of the Left Wing Soldiers and Horses Envoy and Xue Qianxun, the deputy envoy of the Datong Army, stood up.

"Order the two of you to stay behind, supervise the remaining soldiers and horses to continue drilling, tuntian affairs, prepare manpower, and be ready to receive surrendered troops, cattle, sheep and horses in Izumo at any time!"

The two glanced at each other and arched their hands together: "No! ”

Zhao Ziliang looked at Wu Tiande again and said: "Wu Tiande, you stay, take over as the lieutenant general of the Military Justice Department, and rectify the military discipline of all armies!" ”

Wu Tiande was stunned for a moment, and promised with his hand: "No!" ”

"Zhang Shouyu, I order you to take 2,000 cavalry as the left army, and arrive in the clouds on the fifth day of the tenth month; Gao Xiuyan, I ordered you to take 2,000 cavalry of the Yunzhong Army to standby, it is for the right army, and 2,000 cavalry of the Datong Army will be the Chinese army and set off tomorrow to set off for the clouds to join the left and right armies! Other deputy envoys and deputy generals stayed behind, and strictly practiced the soldiers and horses that were left behind, and they must not slack off! ”

The generals stood up and bowed: "No! ”

Nowadays, there are several relatively large forces in the northern steppe, the first is the Turks, the later Turkic empire has declined, and now the new Baimei Khan barely maintains the stability of the tribes; the second is Basimi, and the khan is Ashinash; the third is Hui, and the leader is Guli Peiluo; The fourth is the eastern tribe of Qarluq, and the Qarluq west of Jinshan is the western tribe; The largest forces in the Northeast are Murowei and Qianjing, and between the northern grasslands and the Northeast there are two slightly larger tribes, namely the Khitan and Tongluo, and the Khitan is the strongest among the Xi people, although last year the Xi army was defeated three times by Wang Zhonghe, when at least half of the people fled back, this force can not be underestimated, this is also the reason why Zhao Ziliang is determined to pull out the Xi people, on the side of the couch, how can he allow others to sleep soundly?

In addition to the Xi people, the strength of other Khitan tribes is smaller, but it can not be ignored, from the perspective of historical development, the Khitan developed in the future, and drove the northeast of the Murwei and the Qianjing into the deep mountains and old forests, and the Uighur Khanate on the grassland was also destroyed by it. Therefore, Zhao Ziliang's dispatch of troops this time will at least greatly weaken the strength of the Khitan and Tongluo, these two tribes are in the middle of the cracks, but they are extremely dishonest, and sending troops to deal with them will not cause the dissatisfaction of the Hui, Qarlu and Ba Ximi.

According to the plan, Zhao Ziliang decided to eradicate the Khitan or Tongluo, and then build a simple town on their original grassland for rest and transit, on the one hand, to deter the Murowei tribes in the east, and on the other hand, to prepare for the attack on the grassland tribes. However, this has to get in touch with Wang Zhongsi, and I don't know what kind of attitude the imperial court and Wang Zhongsi have towards the changes in the situation in Mobei. (To be continued.) )