Chapter 1185: Lu Bu's Troops March to the Grassland
Zhao Kingdom, Bingzhou, Taiyuan County, Jinyang is the seat of government, which is also the royal city of Zhao Kingdom. In the palace of King Zhao, King Zhao Lu Bu is gathering a group of ministers to discuss matters.
In the court hall, Lu Bu'an of the State of Zhao is sitting on the throne. The Prime Minister Chen Gong, the State Lieutenant Wei Xu, and the Censor Zhongcheng Qin Yi are sitting at the head of the ministers. The Northern General Zhang Liao, the Pingnan General Cao Xing, and the Sili Xiaowei are also Taiyuan Captain Li Feng and other civil and military officers were ranked behind the three.
"My dear friends, I would like to lead my troops out of the fortress and expel the Xianbei tribe within two hundred miles north of Yinshan Mountain. Firstly, I can avenge the previous invasion of Bingzhou from the south. Secondly, I can also eliminate some hidden dangers for me and the north of Zhao Dynasty. "Lu Bu sat high on the throne and said to everyone with excitement;
After several months of working as King Zhao, Lu Bu was already feeling a little depressed. This time he just took this opportunity to go out and let himself go. This is why Lu Bu nodded and agreed to Chen Gong's request that Lu Bu not go within two hundred miles of the grassland. If it had been in the past, Lu Bu would probably not have agreed. Now, he just wants to lead his troops to fight immediately, without even thinking about it for a moment. Stay in this palace.
Upon hearing this, everyone bowed and bowed deeply, saying in unison: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty!"
"Well, this expedition will be led by Gu himself. The troops he leads are 30,000 Bingzhou wolf cavalry and 20,000 ordinary cavalry, totaling 50,000 cavalry and 100,000 horses." At this point, Lu Bu paused for a moment. Then he said: "After I go out to fight, all domestic affairs will be handled by the three people of the state, the state captain and the censor Zhongcheng."
"Wei Chen accepts the order!" Chen Gong and three others stood up to receive the order and express their gratitude.
Lu Bu nodded and motioned for the three of them to sit down. Then he added: "After discussing with the state ministers, Gu decided to gather a large army to attack Wuyuan and Shuofang counties when he returned from the grassland, and completely brought the two counties under the rule of Zhao. So I will wait for Gu to lead the army. After the cavalry went out, Zhang Liao, the general who conquered the north, was in charge. With the help of three state ministers, 50,000 infantry were gathered in Yunzhong County within three months. They only waited for the sole army to return from the grassland, and then they all marched towards Wu. Yuan and Shuofang counties launched an attack."
When Zhang Liao heard this, he quickly came out of the queue and said: "Wei ministers have received the order!"
Lu Bu hummed softly, and then said to Chen Gong: "Prime Minister, are there any changes in the other countries?"
Chen Gong stood up and replied: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, the ministers have ordered spies to pay close attention to the movements of the surrounding countries. Wei is our ally, and now King Wei's attention is focused on Yan. In addition, the relationship between Wei and Tang We have always been at odds with each other, so it is impossible for King Wei to offend me, Zhao, at this time."
"As for the Tang State, according to the news from the spies in the Tang State, the King of Tang has been fighting for many years since he took control of Luoyang. Now everyone in the Tang State, from the officials to the common people, are tired of war. In addition, the two countries who went to Tang and Qi The great war during the war caused a lot of losses to the Tang State, so the King of Tang had no intention of sending troops this year. From the beginning of the year, the King of Tang began to lead troops to patrol the country to appease the people's morale. "
"Yes!" Lu Bu nodded and said: "I have also seen the information about this matter, but I heard that the king of Tang still played a trick on the king of Qi, causing Qi to lose most of the land in the East China Sea, which made the state of Wu and the man named Is this true for the alien lord of Tuberose?"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, the King of Tang is doing this just to contain the energy of Qi State so that he can rest in peace. Please think about it, Your Majesty, if King Qi is really allowed to pacify the two states of Qing and Xu, King Qi will prepare to attack Who mobilized the army? It must be the King of Tang, so the King of Tang wants to weaken the strength of Qi State and at the same time strengthen the strength of Ye Laixiang and King Wu so that they can better contain Qi State. "
"This is a wonderful plan!" Lu Bu said with a smile, stroking his hands;
"Although the Tang State has no intention of sending troops for the time being,
However, Wei Chen has already discussed with Guowei and decided to strengthen the defense of the pass cities in the south of Taiyuan and Shangdang counties and adjacent to Tang State, in order to prevent the Tang army from sending troops to encircle Wei when the king and General Zhang attacked Wuyuan. Ask Zhao for advice. "Chen Gong added;
"Prime Minister, I heard that all the counties in Hedong and Henei are building roads and bridges. Does the Tang State have any other plans?" Zhang Liao was more attentive and asked quickly;
"General Zhang, don't worry. I have carefully considered the construction of roads and bridges in Hanoi and Hedong. I have not seen any other intentions. This matter was targeted at the three counties after the King of Tang inspected the three counties of Wei, Hanoi and Hedong. It’s just a matter of judging the achievements of the chief officials of various cities.”
"In the three counties, about 20% are rewarded this time and 30% are punished. About half of the county chief officials have mediocre results and neither reward nor punish. That's why there is such a big move in the three counties." Chen Gong smiled and replied;
When everyone heard this, they were relieved, and Lu Bu smiled even more. With this, he felt even more relieved when he set out to fight outside the Great Wall: "Okay, General Cao Xing, you will lead the 20,000 cavalry this time. Go out with Gu and send the order. The army will prepare for three days. After three days, it will send troops to the grassland! "
When everyone heard this, they quickly stood up and agreed.
Three days later, Lu Bu led Cao Xing and 50,000 cavalry to dispatch troops from the north gate of Jinyang and headed north in a mighty manner. A total of 50,000 troops were dispatched this time, including 30,000 Bingzhou wolf cavalry, a special unit of Zhao State. Among the 30,000 Bingzhou wolf cavalry, there were about 20,000 ordinary wolf cavalry. Their strength was almost the same as the palace cavalry on the grassland. The remaining 10,000 Bingzhou wolf cavalry are more elite cavalry, called blood wolf cavalry, which are unique to Lu Bu. They can be said to be the strongest cavalry in the world, even stronger than the white horse Yi Cong. point.
The other 20,000 cavalry led by Cao Xing were ordinary cavalry of Zhao State. However, even ordinary cavalry was several times stronger than ordinary cavalry of the Central Plains countries. These 50,000 cavalry were the most elite troops of Zhao State. These 50,000 people alone accounted for more than half of the money and food consumed by Zhao State's troops. This is why when Shi A was in Changzi City, the infantry of Zhao State, whether it was combat soldiers or county soldiers, were quite different from the Tang army.
The 50,000 cavalry rushed north like a torrent, and in the crowd outside the north gate of Jinyang, a middle-aged ranger happened to see this scene one by one. This was Shi A who hurried from Changzi City to Jinyang to gather intelligence.
Looking at the rolling torrent of cavalry heading north, even though Shi A was knowledgeable, he fell into silence. The Tang State was strong in both men and horses, but the total number of cavalry in the entire Tang State was only a few hundred thousand. It sounds like there were more than in the Zhao State, but the Tang State had more than a dozen counties. If you calculate it this way, each county had only a few thousand people. However, Lu Bu only had a few counties, and these places were far less prosperous than the Central Plains where the Tang State was located. This shows the importance of cavalry in the Zhao State.