Chapter 186

All the counties in the Feng Kingdom bowed to Zhong Tian. Only Tianyuan County, headed by Tang Yin, openly opposed him and killed the officials he sent. Qiu Zhongtian has always remembered this, but he had just become king, and many things needed to be stabilized. , and Tianyuan County was in the far north, a long way away, so he never had time to deal with Tang Yin.

Now that Tang Yin has snatched away the three most important trump cards in his hand, including Wu Mei, his wife whom he had not seen for a long time. In addition, he published a revolt in Tianyuan County. Zhong Tian can no longer sit still. , immediately summoned his subordinates and confidants to discuss the matter of raising troops to annihilate Tang Yin's family.

At this time, several of Zhong Tian's staff stood up and objected. They thought that the overall situation was not yet stable and it was not suitable to use large-scale troops. Moreover, the Tianyuan Army was too far away from Yancheng. After marching, the soldiers would be exhausted and feared a counterattack by the opponent. After hearing these words of advice, Zhong Tian shook his head like a rattle.

Now he has more than 600,000 troops, plus Ning's 400,000 troops, a total of one million people. Tang Yincai only has 200,000 troops. There is a huge difference in strength. His army can flatten Tianyuan County in one move. , where do those worries come from?

Other staff members are not very good at reading Zhong Tian's thoughts, and even if they do, they will speak out. However, there is one staff member who is very good at guessing Zhong Tian's preferences, and is also very good at speaking in accordance with Zhong Tian's preferences. This person's name His name is Zhou Shun, and he has no real talent or knowledge. He only relies on flattery to gain a place among Zhong Tian's staff.

He looked at the others, grinned, and said: "I think what you all said is wrong. To destroy Tang Yin, we must do it as soon as possible. If the situation on our side stabilizes, Tang Yin's strength will also Strengthen, until then, he relies on the natural barriers of the sky, and even if we have a million troops, it will be difficult to defeat the enemy."

Zhong Tian liked hearing this and nodded his head, indicating that what Zhou Shun said made sense.

Seeing his happy expression, Zhou Shun was even more confident and said eloquently: "It is the king's division that sends troops, and Tang Yin's family is the rebels. It is only natural and right that the king's division goes out to attack the rebels. How can they be invincible?" What’s the truth? What’s more, the king is using the power of the whole country to fight against a small Tianyuan County, and there is also the Ningguo army to assist him. This battle is sure of success, enough to annihilate Tang Yin in one fell swoop and eliminate this trouble in his heart!"

"Yes!" Zhong Tian praised: "Well said!" Wang Shi is famous for his crusade against the rebels. After listening to Zhou Shun's words, Zhong Tian's confidence increased, and he had the ambition to swallow up Tianyuan County in one breath.

But before his army was dispatched, something suddenly happened in Yancheng that completely disrupted Zhong Tian's plan, that is, large-scale desertions occurred in various corps.

It stands to reason that deserters should only be isolated individuals. Even if there are any, they are ordinary soldiers below who escape. But this time it is different. Not only the soldiers, but also the company captain, battalion captain, commander and even the regiment commander took the lead in running away. The desertion phenomenon is like a scourge. , unable to be stopped, it spread rapidly, with more and more people fleeing, and in the end, the entire regiment fled collectively.

As a result, the order of the central corps under Zhong Tian was completely disrupted, causing panic among the people and turmoil in the morale of the army. Fortunately, the six corps directly under Zhong Tian were still stable. In order to prevent deserters, Zhong Tian ordered the city to be blocked again. Once a deserter is discovered, he will be executed regardless of his official position.

Later, he reorganized the regiments that originally belonged to the Liang, Wu, and Ziyang families, and replaced all regiment commanders and commanders without regard to indiscriminate use, and filled the vacancies with his confidants and retainers. On the surface, his method of cutting through the mess with a sharp knife seems to have no problem, but in fact it leaves huge hidden dangers.

Among the twenty regiments that directly belonged to the three families of Liang, Wu, and Ziyang, there were some regiment commanders and captains who were very loyal to their old masters and never forgot them. After receiving the letter, they led their followers to flee to Tianyuan County. Although some people were still undecided, or had no intention of defecting, Zhong Tian's sweeping dismissal from office involved their own actual interests, and dissatisfaction naturally began to spread rapidly.

You must know that the relationship between superiors and subordinates in the army is much closer than that in the officialdom. The relationship between superiors and subordinates is cultivated through fighting side by side and going through life and death. Zhong Tian replaced the commander of the regiment and the commander of thousands, but the following The captain and captains are still loyal to their original superiors. Even if the captain and captains are replaced, it is impossible to replace all the soldiers.

His approach failed to effectively stop deserters, but instead aggravated the desertion phenomenon, which was tantamount to forcing these people to defect to their old masters. Even though the city was sealed, there were still many soldiers who took the risk to escape over the wall. Some were caught and executed, but many more were not caught and successfully escaped to Tianyuan County.

It didn't take long for these twenty regiments to become disorganized, riddled with holes, incompetent, and without any combat effectiveness.

Not to mention, as soon as Liang Xing, Wu Yu, and Ziyang Haochun jointly drafted a revolting memorandum, it immediately caused a sensation and response in all parts of the Feng Kingdom. Countless people from the Feng Kingdom traveled long distances to Tianyuan County. The 200,000 local troops outside Yancheng also received news from home. Everyone planned to defect to Tianyuan County after returning home. People in the army were also panicked and discipline was loose.

Just as Zhang Zhe analyzed to Tang Yin at the beginning, although Zhong Tian had more than 500,000 troops under his command after he became king, in fact, the only ones who were truly loyal to him were only the six corps directly under his command.

Zhong Tian may be an excellent politician and conspirator, but he is by no means a man who can manage a war. Now, Zhong Tian is as anxious about the situation in front of him as an ant on a hot pot, while the situation in Tianyuan County is completely opposite.

The tribesmen of Liang, Wu, and Ziyang came to surrender, and the number of troops they brought directly was close to one hundred thousand, and the number of civilians from all over the Feng Kingdom who came to join the army was also almost one hundred thousand. In this way, Tianyuan County's military strength was It doubled in a very short period of time.

Tang Yin treated the Central Army soldiers who came to seek refuge with courtesy and did not move. However, he absorbed the civilians from various places into the Tianyuan Army and merged them into the regiments directly under the county. The original regiments directly under Tianyuan County There were only three, and now it suddenly expanded to thirteen.

Tang Yin took all the people who had surrendered to the army under his command, which naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of Liang Xing, Wu Yu and Ziyang Haochun, and they all came to him to question and ask for people. Tang Yin thought that the three families' corps had not yet stabilized. As an excuse, he refused to allocate one soldier and one soldier to the three families.

At this time, the three families were already dissatisfied with Tang Yin.

Tianyuan County's military strength suddenly increased from 200,000 to 400,000. Not only was it financially unsustainable, but food and grass were also a problem.

At this time, Tang Yin thought of Zhao Hui, the head of Guannan County.

Tianyuan County cannot support an army of 400,000, but if Guannan County is added, it will be almost the same. He sent someone to send a letter to Zhao Hui, asking Zhao Hui to reinforce Tianyuan County's army, provide food and pay, and contribute to the crusade against the traitor Zhong Tian. The content of the letter was very polite, but it was mentioned more than once that the Tianyuan Army had expanded to 400,000. This was a secret threat to Zhao Hui. If he did not provide materials or money, the 400,000 Tianyuan Army would invade his Guannan County at any time. .

Zhao Hui was so smart that he could not see the implication of Tang Yin's words. He did not dare to neglect and hurriedly wrote a reply to Tang Yin, promising to fully support Tianyuan County.

In fact, he really did this. The money and food in the county treasury are not his. If it is given to Zhong Tian, ​​it is still a gift. If it is given to Tang Yin, it is still a gift. How can he sacrifice the near and seek the far away and offend Tang Yin, a neighbor who is always looking at him?

With the military supplies, food and wages from Guannan County being continuously sent to Tianguan, the pressure on Tianyuan County was immediately reduced a lot. At this time, Tang Yin had already planned to send troops to conquer.

On this day, Tang Yin summoned his generals for a meeting. Of course, Liang Xing, Wu Yu, and Ziyang Haochun were also among his invitations.

At the meeting, he first made a brief inquiry and analysis of the current situation, and then cut to the point and said seriously: "Now that our army has a large number of troops and sufficient food and pay, it is ready to send troops to Zhongtian. What do you think?"

Upon hearing that Tang Yin was finally going to send troops, Liang Xing, Wu Yu, and Ziyang Haochun said in succession: "Now is the time to go out. Our army is strong and Zhong Tian's power is weak. We will definitely win in one battle!"

Qiu Zhen cleared his throat, cupped his hands and said, "Our army still has hidden dangers and cannot go out for the time being."

"What's the hidden danger?" Everyone looked at Qiu Zhen, and Liang Xing said, "Master Qiu, please tell me if you have anything to say!"

Qiu Zhen smiled and said: "It's like this. Although our army has 400,000 people, it is actually only equivalent to 300,000." Seeing the doubts on everyone's faces, he explained: "Liang Xiang, Wu Xiang, Zi General Yang has 100,000 men under his command, but he lacks unified command. In the battle between the two armies, they will only be scattered and unable to play an actual role."

Although Liang Xing was the left prime minister and was in charge of military affairs, he was mainly responsible for civilian affairs in the army and was not good at commanding troops to fight. Wu Yu was a scholar and knew nothing about this aspect. After listening to Qiu Zhen's words, they both frowned as they didn't know how to respond.

Ziyang Haochun asked: "What does Mr. Qiu mean?"

"I think it would be better for the three adults to hand over the command to Mr. Tang, and let Mr. Tang conduct unified command and deployment. What do the three adults mean?"

"this……"

In this current situation, who doesn’t want to have soldiers in his hands? Handing over the corps is like handing over the lifeline. Liang Xing, Wu Yu, and Ziyang Haochun all had troubled expressions on their faces and remained silent.

Just when the atmosphere was about to get tense, Tang Yin suddenly laughed and said, "If you want to achieve unified command and dispatch, the three adults do not need to hand over all military power to me."

"Oh?" These words cheered up the three old men, and they asked in unison: "What do you think Mr. Tang said?"

Tang Yin smiled and said: "As long as the three adults choose one person to command the armies of the three families."