Chapter 27: Remembering General Duan

  Things have come to this point, and both parties present have basically gotten the answers they wanted, and it can be considered a conclusion.

  Li Zhen sent Li Boren and others out of the county government office, then returned to his house and knelt down.

  As for their promised grain, salary and wealth, Li Jing didn't care whether they had it or not, more or less, it was all the same. What Li Jing cared about was Li Bo Ran's sentence 'How will the general do it, we just ask'.

  With this promise, Li Zhong can let go and take control of Lingzhou quickly. If there is no such commitment, the local powerful families in Lingzhou will secretly make their move, and when the time comes, they will inevitably face each other with swords drawn. Although Li Zhong is not afraid, at the beginning of the uprising, he can avoid it if possible. Moreover, after all, this city of Lingzhou is still supported by these people, without them, Lingzhou would basically be a wasteland, and there would be no point in coming here.

  The next day, many bookworms came to the county government office to apply for a position as a clerk. Li Zhēn was very pleased and assigned tasks based on their abilities. As for other trivial matters, they were handled by Zhōu Lín.

  Most of these scholars who came to apply for the position of a minor official were from humble families. The term "humble family" not only refers to their birth, but also implies their cultural background.

  In this era, the essence of Chinese civilization is basically monopolized by aristocratic families, such as Guo Jia and Xi Zhicai, who are rare talents from humble backgrounds. The real cradle of talent lies in these aristocratic families.

  What's more, this is just a small county in Lingzhou on the border. These humble-born youngsters, after some examination and inquiry, can only serve as subordinate officials in the county government at best. As for real talents, there isn't even one.

  However, apart from these mediocre descendants, there were two or three who showed some promise. Upon closer inquiry, it turned out that they were all disciples of Li Bohan.

  In Li Zhong's original plan, he didn't actually intend to select talents from among the wealthy and powerful families of Lingzhou.

  At the beginning of his rise to power, Li Zhēn felt that it was better to remain pure.

  The children of poor families have no foundation, once they board Li Zhong's boat, they can only follow Li Zhong's path to the end. The wealthy and powerful are different, they have a family behind them, and their first consideration is to expand the family's power. They will do everything that benefits the family, and abandon anything that doesn't.

  In Li Zhuo's view, these are just weeds on the wall, time bombs waiting to go off.

  If at the beginning of his rise to power, he was infiltrated by these people, in the end, Li Zhong himself might not be able to handle it.

  So when he saw that they were all sons of poor families who had come to apply, although their abilities weren't great, Li Zhēn was still delighted. But he hadn't expected that Lǐ Bó Rán would actually send over a few disciples.

  The wealthy and powerful families in Lingzhou were all coldly watching from the sidelines, offering no actual support other than the promised grain and financial aid. Yet, under such circumstances, Li Boran did the opposite, leaving Li Jing to ponder quietly.

  But in any case, Li Zhong could not possibly turn these people away.

  One aspect is ability, and another aspect is to give Li Bo Ran some face. Moreover, these few people actually all come from commoner families, although they have a close relationship with Li Bo Ran, but in general it's much better than those who come from wealthy and powerful families.

  Personnel in place, within a day, the county government's administrative structure was set up.

  As the administrative organs functioned smoothly, Li Zhong gradually lifted the ban, and in three days, Lingzhou was completely calm again.

  In these three days, Li Zhong, in addition to building the management layer and stabilizing Lingzhou, also had Zhang Shan recruit soldiers on a large scale in the city of Lingzhou.

  To fully control the power of a county, not only effective management is needed, but also absolute strength. This time, most of the troops brought over will have to be taken away to rescue Fu Xie, so at that time, the defensive forces in Lingzhou will be insufficient, and more soldiers must be recruited.

  He now holds a large amount of grain supported by the wealthy households in the city, and there are ready-made military equipment and supplies in the county government's warehouse, which can quickly raise an army of thousands.

  Because Li Zhuang's terms were very generous, a thousand soldiers were quickly recruited.

  Sent someone to the grassland to bring Wang Lao Hu over, presided over the training of this thousand new soldiers, and left Zhang Shan in charge of the overall situation. Li Zheng was ready to leave Lingzhou and head to Hanyang to rescue Fu Shuo.

  To go to Hanyang to rescue Fu Shuo, Li Jing first needs a map.

  Maps are such precious and valuable items in this era. Not even the county government has one, or maybe they do, perhaps the county magistrate took it with him when he abandoned the city.

  Fortunately, Zhou Lin gave Li Zhuo a surprise.

  Perhaps unwilling to completely abandon their ancestral home, when the Fu family moved away, some people still remained in the Fu family enclosure.

  The leader of these people was actually Zhou Fei.

  And Li Zhēng needed a map, which was obtained by Zhōu Lín from Zhōu Féi.

  It's possible that the county government may not have a map, but a big clan like the Fu family must have this foundation.

  Compared with the maps Li Jing had seen in that era, this map was completely hand-painted. The map was seven feet long and four feet wide, covering the entire Liangzhou.

  Among them, mountains and rivers, deserts and lakes, roads and cities, and divisions of prefectures and counties are all clear at a glance.

  Li Zhuo was overjoyed when he got this map.

  After careful consideration, he made a plan in his mind and immediately summoned the leaders of his subordinates. After giving Zhang Shan and Wang Lao Hu some instructions, he left half of the elite infantry to guard against any unexpected events. He then led all the cavalry, 50 heavy armored gunners, and 50 light infantry archers to leave Lingzhou overnight and head south.

  Troops are valuable for their speed, and there is also the saying "rescue troops like rescuing a fire".

  In mid-April, Geng Bing's army was defeated, and it has been almost two months since then. Although limited by the transportation and communication problems of this era, two months may not be a long time. However, Li Zhong is very worried that the Han Yang Prefecture may have already fallen, and whether Fu Jue is still alive.

  If he loses his defense, all of his plans will basically come to nothing.

  So we must hurry to Hanyang at the fastest speed.

  A group of over sixty cavalrymen and one hundred infantrymen, specifically chose to march through desolate wilderness where human habitation was scarce, in order to conceal their tracks. Each day they rested for no more than three watches, spending the rest of the time on the road, with most of their eating, drinking, and relieving themselves taking place while on the move.

  In just three days, they traveled hundreds of miles from Beidi County, passing through Anding County. By the fourth morning, they arrived at Longqueshan Mountain, which is located on the border between Anding County and Hanyang County.

  On top of the mountain, Li Zhēng spread out the map on a flat stone, watching and frowning in thought.

  Bai Lang and Nu Luo were unable to assist, they could only stand guard at the side.

  After a while, Li Zhēn's eyebrows unfolded, his face was invigorated, and he clenched his fist in his palm, saying to Bai Lang and Nuo Luo: "I intend to divide the troops here."

  Bai Lang and Nu Luo pricked up their ears and listened intently.

  "I'll lead the cavalry to Jizhou, and Bailang will follow. Nuo, leave one hundred light and heavy infantrymen behind and hand them over to you to command. After I leave with Bailang, have your troops set up camp here!"

  Saying that, Li Zhēng pointed to the map and said: "You see, just near this mountain head, there is a Bóluò Gǔ (thinly fallen valley). You lead people to set up camp beside Bóluò Gǔ, dig many pitfalls in the valley, prepare enough flammable materials, and get ready for an ambush."

  Although Nuo didn't fully understand Li Zhong's intentions, he had a slight understanding in his heart and accepted the order without hesitation.

  "It's hard to define a specific time, but in order to rescue Fu Xie, we need to wait for the right moment. If the timing is not right, it's absolutely impossible. So you should stay calm and wait here, don't be impatient, and also don't reveal your tracks and get discovered, got it?"

  "Understood."

  "Hmm," Li Zhēng nodded slightly: "You're more steady than White Wolf, so this task will be given to you. When the time comes, I'll send someone to notify you first."

  With that, Zheng's serious face melted like ice and a smile appeared: "This time we've been marching continuously for three days, men and horses are exhausted. From now on, let the soldiers rest well, and we'll take action again tomorrow night."

  Three days of marching hundreds of miles, to be honest, Li Zhēn was already very satisfied with his soldiers.

  This also indirectly proves the physical fitness of soldiers in this era, of course, Wang Lao Hu's credit cannot be erased, and the high-energy food on the grassland is also crucial.

  During the march, Li Zhong self-reflected and discovered that he lacked experience in commanding troops - infantry didn't need to be said, but cavalry marching on mountainous terrain was even more difficult. The Qing Jia warhorses were slightly better, after all, their comprehensive quality far surpassed ordinary warhorses, and they could still hold up when walking on rugged terrain. But the light cavalry warhorses were not the case, although due to high-energy feed nourishment, the warhorse's physical ability in the Shen Zhou grasslands had also reached the peak state of ordinary warhorses, but warhorses were just warhorses after all, even Qing Jia warhorses, and mountainous terrain was not their home field.

  So Li Zhong had already been thinking in his heart that after returning to the grassland this time, he would definitely form a battle cavalry suitable for mountain warfare.

  But this time it's also an unavoidable thing, who let the development of Shen Zhou Grassland just start? With Qing Jia War Rider, able to produce first-class armor, is already considered not bad.

  After resting for nearly a dozen hours on the top of Shengtou Mountain, Li Jing set out with his spirited cavalrymen at dusk the next day, bidding farewell to Nuo Luo, and taking advantage of the night to head straight to Ji City, the seat of Han Yang Prefecture.

  The Wei River originates from Shouyang in Longxi, flows through half of Longxi County, crosses Hanyang County, then enters Youfufeng, and finally empties into the Yellow River after passing east of Chang'an.

  The seat of Han Yang Prefecture was located in Ji City, which is situated on the south bank of the Wei River.

  Due to the erosion of the Wei River, the terrain north of Jizhou is all flat and open, making it difficult to conceal one's tracks. To avoid exposure, Li Jing had no choice but to lead his 67 cavalrymen (Zhang Shan remained in Lingzhou) eastward for dozens of miles before crossing the Wei River and circling around to the south side of Jizhou.

  To the south of Jizhou City, there is a mountain range called Zhūyǔ Mountain. In this place, there is a very famous spot called Shè Hǔ Gǔ (Tiger Shooting Valley).

  Twenty years ago, the late General Pu Qiang, Taishi Duan Lie, defeated the Eastern Qiang tribes here, with a total of over 180 battles, beheading nearly 40,000 people, capturing nearly 500,000 heads of cattle, sheep and horses, and only over 400 soldiers died in battle!

  Because of this war, Shooting Tiger Valley was remembered by people and even marked on maps.

  Li Zhēn and his party traveled by night and hid by day, taking two days to reach Shè Hǔ Gōu.

  Standing on the mountain top, looking at the Xianghu Valley below, Li Zhong thought of General Duan's great achievements and couldn't help but feel a surge of emotions. Although it is said that General Duan later became a follower of eunuchs and became a Taiwei, tarnishing his reputation, Li Zhong still felt indignant on his behalf!

  General Duan broke the Western Qiang tribes in his early years, and later broke the Eastern Qiang tribes. Over a decade, he fought hundreds of battles, often wearing armor and personally leading the charge, frequently winning with fewer troops. For over a decade, he was repeatedly slandered, but he took on the toil and complaints, pacifying the Qiang people who had been causing trouble since the beginning of the century, giving the imperial court headaches for decades. Such great achievements, yet he still needed to curry favor with eunuchs in order to buy the position of Grand Marshal!

  This is simply unbelievable!

  Finally, this meritorious general and commander-in-chief was slandered by rumors and died of anxiety and indignation!

  What a sorrow!

  Li Zheng savored the underlying reason.

  Because General Duan was born into a humble family and was not accepted by the scholar-official class of aristocratic families, in the end he had no choice but to stand together with the eunuchs!

  Taking a deep breath, Li Zhēn couldn't help but sneer coldly in his heart.

  The world has already become chaotic, General Duan is a warning from the past!