Chapter 80 Twenty Merits
When three thousand, or perhaps more than three thousand people spoke at the same time, the voice of "We are willing to go" was mixed into an unclear high-pitched reverberation. The only thing that stood out and appeared extremely clear was the two words "Your Majesty"!
A prince, although he is a prince, still has the appearance of a prince.
This is indeed a respectful title for the marquises, but nowadays, how many people can be addressed in this way by their subordinates?
Wei Ji suppressed the fear in his heart at this moment. When he looked towards Qiao Yan, he saw the girl in black clothes and red cloak standing in front of the slope, standing still amid the waves of noise.
He originally wanted to make sure Qiao Yan would not go back on his promise to him, and also to give directions to the soldiers who were accompanying him to eliminate the thieves. Who knew he would see such a scene?
Perhaps it is difficult for people who have not seen this scene with their own eyes to realize that this is not just the temptation of interests where people die for money, but is also mixed with a kind of appeal that is almost like a gentleman dying for his friend.
He also had no doubt that even if the Hedong Wei family claimed that they could give the other party a higher bargaining chip, it would never be more tempting than the system established by Qiao Yan at this time.
This kind of appeal is already a very scary thing even if it appears in people in their twenties or thirties, not to mention——
Qiao Yan is only thirteen years old.
"There is no false reputation under a great name..." This was the feeling that Wei Ji had already expressed in his heart when he met Qiao Yan before, and he couldn't help but mutter it out loud now.
On the way to Hedong, he couldn't help but ask, "Is your Lord Qiao always like this?"
"What do you mean by always like this?" Zhang Yang asked.
Because this battle was a pursuit on flat ground, Qiao Yan chose Zhao Yun as the main commander and Zhang Yang as the auxiliary commander without hesitation.
Then, if Chu Yan stayed behind in Pingzhou County and led the soldiers to investigate in all directions, it would be enough to guard against possible enemy situations.
Because Zhao Yun was giving orders to his soldiers, the person Wei Ji spoke to was Zhang Yang.
"That's right. She doesn't need to really put the 35-stone reward in front of each soldier to make her soldiers believe that they can get this reward for military merit. At a time when morale needs to be boosted, it can also be done by making the rules and regulations clear at the right time..."
It can also make the selected candidates for the expedition convincing.
Faced with the reward of beheading one person or capturing one person, everyone wants to fight for a "money prospect".
Although Wei Ji had never experienced the hardships of the lower-class people, he had personally witnessed the chaos caused by the failure to reduce the acreage tax during the locust plague in the Three Prefectures, so it was not difficult for him to understand this idea.
But when he was sent out of the camp outside Pingzhou City by Qiao Yan, Wei Ji could confirm that the selection of these thousand men had been approved by others, or in other words, even the soldiers who stayed behind believed that they would not miss the opportunity to establish their achievements.
This strong sense of belief made Wei Ji feel that asking Qiao Yan for troops was a very dangerous move.
But she only mentioned that Wei needed to pay for the rice and food for the thousand-man march, and also asked Wei to provide a few more people who could be responsible for education. This was not an overly demanding request, and made Wei Ji feel that he might have just overthought it.
Moreover, assisting in suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion, presiding over the suppression of the locust plague, and now eradicating the White Wave Bandits, all sound like they are completely connected...
He withdrew his thoughts and heard Zhang Yang reply: "What's so unusual about this? Your Excellency has promised a thousand gold coins. We all believe what she said, and Leping can afford the reward."
Most of the soldiers present were from the Black Mountain Bandits. They had handled most of the grain harvests during the past three years. Although Chu Yan's going out of Bingzhou to exchange rice was a secret, what they saw was enough to support the military expenses, so there was no need to doubt it.
Zhang Yang's frank display of wealth made Wei Ji choke for a moment.
But to be honest, Le Ping doesn't have to worry about being targeted by others because of this kind of showing off of wealth. Instead, the Black Mountain bandits have become loyal fans of this place, and the White Wave bandits have been forced by her to live in groups.
Unfortunately, in the Hedong area, at least the Wei family could not command such a team, and could only rely on Qiao Yan's assistance to complete this defense.
Just as he was thinking about this, he suddenly heard Zhang Yang say, "Speaking of which, your name is well chosen. It has chicken and fish, and it sounds like you are rich. Even Leping can't eat like this every meal."
"......?" The depressed mood that Wei Ji had just felt was completely driven away by this sentence.
His name is Wei Ji, and his courtesy name is Bo Ji, which is not chicken or fish, idiot!
Wei Ji was only twenty-two years old after all, and when he came to Qiao Yan to borrow troops, he spoke calmly, showing the propriety of a noble family, but he could not help but have some of the flamboyant and jumpy emotions of a young man. If Zhao Yun had not called Zhang Yang away to arrange military matters, he would have had to explain these words to the other party.
Fortunately, no matter how troublesome the deputy general under Marquis Qiao is, the ones who will have the headache next will not be him, but those Baibo bandits.
Just as Wei Ji said when he asked Qiao Yan to borrow troops, these Baibo bandits were facing a shortage of food. Because they had been defeated by Qiao Yan before, and she was guarding Pingzhou, they could launch a strong attack at any time.
Hedong was their best choice for looting food.
You have to pick the weak ones when you want to pick on the weak. Thinking further, the most suitable target for looting is undoubtedly the Wei family.
"I don't think it's appropriate," Xu Huang heard that several Baibo generals had gathered together and someone had first proposed this attack target. He did not think it was feasible just because others praised it. Instead, he said, "The Wei family has dismissed some of their retainers. Those who remain in the fort must be people who are loyal to the Wei family."
"So what?" Han Xian asked unhappily.
"This means that the Wei family cannot win quickly. If they defend tightly against us, there is no guarantee that there will be no external aid."
Xu Huang did not expect that the Wei family would be so decisive in borrowing troops from Qiao Yan. He was just thinking that if the Wei family was a prominent aristocratic family and could not defeat the enemy quickly, they would attract the Inspector of the Imperial Guards' troops.
But obviously his reason could not convince others.
Li Le's temper calmed down a little, and Han Xian snorted again and asked, "So in your opinion, where should we target for looting?"
Xu Huang had already considered this question before, and decisively replied: "The Zhao family of Ji County."
"What a joke!" This time even Li Le felt that what Xu Huang said was really ridiculous, and couldn't help but say, "After the Wei clan dismissed their retainers and confined them to the fortress, these brave men surrendered to the Zhao clan nearby. Now the other party has more manpower than the Wei clan, not to mention that most of the men in the Wei clan are scholars, unlike the Zhao clan who are known for their bravery. You actually said that the former is more difficult to capture than the latter. What do you mean?"
Xu Huang really wanted to reply that this was not a game of comparing sizes.
The Zhao family's means of amassing wealth are brutal and they are not protected by the people in the village. Even if a war breaks out, it should not cause troublesome counterattacks or reports, which is perfect for them.
But when he saw Yang Feng signaling him not to speak at this time, he temporarily held back the words that were about to come out of his mouth.
It was not until the people present decided on the goal of raiding the Wei family, with Li Le and Han Xian leading their troops as the main force and Yang Feng sending a team as support, that they left the meeting place one after another, that he heard Yang Feng say, "Do you know why I want to stop you?"
To be honest, Yang Feng himself felt that if he really went to attack the Zhao family as Xu Huang said, it would be better to attack the weak Wei family.
But Xu Huang had been under his command for a long time, and he was not unaware of his abilities, so there was no guarantee that his judgment was correct.
However, at this time when there are other forces at work, this decision, which sounds more risky, is obviously not suitable to be spoken out.
Xu Huang was able to say that he would let Yang Feng decide on his own whether to accommodate these parties. In fact, he also understood this logic. However, understanding is one thing, and telling the truth in the spirit of combat efficiency is another.
He bowed to Yang Feng and said, "Please give me 800 men, I will go to Zhao and bring back another batch of rice for you."
Eight hundred people?
Yang Feng murmured in his heart for a while, but finally agreed with Xu Huang's idea.
With his current advantage over Li Le and Han Xian in terms of numbers, he could do without these 800 men. However, if Xu Huang's idea of attacking Zhao could succeed, it would undoubtedly give him more help.
If he had asked for more people, Yang Feng might have hesitated for a while, but the number proposed by Xu Huang was just at his bottom line.
With this idea in mind, even when Li Le said in a sarcastic tone that since he supported Xu Huang's idea, he might as well give up his position to him, he just replied: "Don't I support your idea?"
He assigned 800 soldiers to Li Le and Han Xian, and his brother Yang Da also led 800 soldiers. Together with the half of their own troops, the total number was more than 2,000.
No matter how impregnable the Wei family's fortress was because of the unity of the people, it was obviously impossible to withstand such an encirclement. If they attacked at a time when the enemy had no time to deploy defenses, wouldn't it be a quick victory?
He said this frankly.
Although Li Le had the idea of annexing his forces, he also knew that at this moment, there was nothing wrong with what Yang Feng was doing and he had no food, so he could not launch an attack early anyway.
He quickly replied: "Brother Yang, what are you talking about? I just hope that Brother Yang will always be on guard."
But halfway through his words, he thought, don't let the plan of sowing discord fail and end up losing himself first, so he immediately said with a wry smile: "But Brother Yang's ability in commanding troops is far superior to mine, so he must know the situation, and I shouldn't say too much."
His target is the money of Hedong Wei family!
The Wei family, which had developed in Hedong for four or five generations and made its fortune with Confucian classics, did not have an inviolable status in the eyes of illiterate people like Li Le and Han Xian. They just felt that they were just children with wealth but no ability to protect themselves.
With two thousand men surrounding the fortress, as long as they act quickly enough, they might be able to return with the wealth in the Wei family fortress in two days.
Therefore, when they went down the mountain and headed straight for Hejin, the minds of the two commanders were full of the bright prospects they had imagined, and they completely ignored the reminders made by the other party when they separated from Xu Huang's troops.
"This brat..." Li Le couldn't help but spit when he thought of the situation when he was intercepted outside the camp by Xu Huang when he came to seek refuge.
But considering the previous humiliating situation, he did learn some lessons from it.
He was caught off guard by Qiao Yan near sunrise, so could he have chosen this time to attack the Wei family?
The more he thought about it, the more he felt it was feasible. After discussing it with Han Xian, he set a time.
At dawn, they all pounced on the fat meat in front of them!
However, just as they rushed to the bottom of the fort and intended to start climbing, dozens of buckets of boiling water suddenly poured down from the fort, which seemed to have been poorly guarded before, and then rocks and arrows flew everywhere from the top of the wall.
This was such a defensive counterattack that Li Le and Han Xian gritted their teeth. They were so glad that they did not choose to be the first to climb the mountain that they did not notice that a team had appeared behind them and was detouring to cut off their retreat.
Leading the group was a cavalry team of seventy or eighty people.
Cavalry!
In front of the Wei Iron Wall was an environment most suitable for cavalry charges.
The role played by these seventy or eighty people is comparable to that of a team of hundreds of people!
unless--
Driven by the threat of this iron hoof, these Baibo bandits were able to suddenly grow a pair of wings on their backs and fly directly into the dock wall.
But can they?
Not only can they not, but they will soon find out that some of the people in the team that is outflanking them from the rear were their companions just a few days ago.
However, these people now think that the reward of thirty stones per head is more attractive.
Zhao Yun's face was as gloomy as water. He pointed his spear at the Baibo bandits in front of him and slowly lowered the tip of the spear.
This is exactly the attack signal they agreed upon!
Around the same time when the battle in the Hejin area broke out, Qiao Yan's rewards for the soldiers involved in the battle and compensation for those killed in action arrived in the hands of Cheng Li and Xi Zhicai in the form of a letter.
Seeing Xi Zhicai's face suddenly change after reading the letter, and then he folded the letter and laughed three times, Guo Jia, who was sitting opposite him tasting wine, couldn't help but ask: "Did something good happen?"
This is not like Xi Zhicai's usual behavior.
He was certainly not the type of person who did not show his emotions, but he rarely smiled in such a relaxed and comfortable manner.
It was also obvious that he was not drunk, it was obvious that he said something important in the letter.
Xi Zhicai waved his hand, "It's good to say that, but it's not appropriate to say that."
Anyway, this was something that was going to be implemented in Leping soon, so even if Xi Zhicai wanted to hide it from Guo Jia, he probably couldn't, so he simply handed the letter over.
Guo Jia read it word by word, and before he read to the end he had roughly guessed why Xi Zhicai behaved like that. His expression was unusually more serious than usual.
He looked at Xi Zhicai and asked, "You expect Marquis Qiao to be the governor of a state, but does being the governor of a state really require planning to this extent?"
Xi Zhicai had put away his previous gaffe by this time, and only tapped the table lightly, and replied nonchalantly: "The governor has military power, and Bingzhou is a place where the barbarians gather and spy. If the soldiers do not fight to the death for the cause, the army will not be able to obey orders. Not only will Bingzhou be in danger, but there is also the possibility of surrendering in the chaos of the Qiang and Hu. Now it is just a temporary rule, why not?"
"Besides, Leping has enough rice. These thirty shi are not the same as those thirty shi—"
Xi Zhicai was suddenly stuck when he said this, and stood up suddenly, "Wait a minute, my annual salary is only for twenty poems?"
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