Chapter 59: No Changes in Going North
It was drizzling again, and lights in the distance flickered.
Zhang Xuanning stood on the deck with his hands behind his back, letting the drizzle sprinkle on his body. The river water rushed against the bank with a rustling sound due to the movement of the huge boat, and the sailors skillfully moved the river water to keep the huge boat stable in the center of the river.
At this time, it was already August 11th of the twelfth year of Daye, and Chen Changlin stood respectfully beside him.
Zhang Xuanning obtained two masks from Yang Gong's treasure. One was basically broken and useless, and the other had never been worn before. He put it on right now, but he was a man in his thirties who looked like a businessman, nothing special.
Since Zhang Xuanning took over Yongjia County, Chen Changlin paid a visit to his lord and transferred 2,000 of his sons and daughters to the navy. Gao Zhandao became the commander-in-chief of the navy, and actually controlled the appointment and dismissal, logistics, and family of the navy. Chen Changlin became the first commander-in-chief of the first navy, and held the actual command of the navy.
At this time, the fleet had already passed Luoyang and was less than a few dozen miles away from Chang'an.
Zhang Xuanning sighed and said, "Your Majesty ordered the construction of the Grand Canal from north to south, connecting the Qiantang River, Yangtze River, Huai River, Yellow River, and Haihe River. Such a huge project will benefit generations to come. Apart from other things, transporting part of the grain collected from the land tax in the south to Chang'an and Luoyang is the merit of Your Majesty. Now we can go straight to Chang'an."
"However, His Majesty mobilized 2 million laborers to build this canal. After the canal was completed, four to five out of ten people died, nearly one million. This also caused resentment against His Majesty, and uprisings broke out one after another." Chen Changlin said. His family suffered a great disaster because of Shen Faxing, the prefect of Wujun in the Sui Dynasty, and of course they had no good feelings towards the court.
Zhang Xuan stared at him, smiled calmly, but said nothing more.
This trip to Chang'an was, of course, to take out Yang Gong's treasure in one fell swoop. At that time, Emperor Yang of Sui moved south and mobilized a large army with millions of people. There were countless fleets traveling back and forth between the north and the south, attracting the attention of everyone in the world. Mixed in with only a few thousand people, they were insignificant and did not attract any attention at all. If they did not take Yang Gong's treasure now, when would they wait?
In May, he seized the entire Yongjia County and subdued Miao Haichao. He waited patiently for two and a half months. Since there were more military and political backbones at that time, he spent less time. In two and a half months, he had reorganized the county government and recruited 8,000 infantry and 1,000 naval forces in Yongjia County.
As a king, he should not be far away from his base, but he must go and get Yang Gong's treasure in person. Moreover, at this time, his two counties are as solid as a rock, and it is impossible for any powerful enemy to attack.
This is the best outcome from a strategic choice.
At this time, Lu Mingyue, in the tenth year of Daye, led an army of 100,000 insurgents to station in Zhu'a and start an uprising. He was attacked by the Sui general Zhang Xutuo and was left with only 30,000. Now he has gathered another 100,000 people to attack Chen and Ru.
The rebel leader Wang Xuba occupied Gaoyang County, and Zhu Can, with hundreds of thousands of troops, invaded Jingxiang, proclaimed himself the Emperor of Chu, established the Yuan Changda era, and occupied the counties south of Han.
The two most important points are: first, Li Zitong called himself the King of Chu and established a bright government, but he happened to be in Jiangdu County, and Du Fuwei's troops gathered the remaining troops and used Liuhe County as a base to regroup. What is Liuhe County? Liuhe County is in Jiangdu County, less than 100 miles away from Emperor Yang of Sui's Jiangdu Palace.
When Zhang Xuanning thought of this, he almost laughed in his dreams. Well, these two tigers and wolves are lurking in Jiangdu, and you, Emperor Sui Yang, don't deal with them, but still want to interfere with me? What nonsense.
In his heart, he also despised Li Zitong and Du Fuwei. Jiangdu County had 140,000 households, but was it so easy to swallow them? Now that the strategic geography was wrong, he could only fight a war of attrition with the Sui army.
This determined that the two of them would not be able to achieve anything. After a few years, the situation in the world would have changed and they would have no chance. If they had moved to other areas early and avoided the key areas of the Sui army, with their talents, they could at least have established their own territory and had time to consolidate and develop. But it was useless to say anything now. They had no way out at all and could only focus on conquering Jiangdu and then developing further.
This is exactly what Zhang Xuanning needs. It is not even an open conspiracy, but a kind of control over heaven, earth and man. It is like a master's move in chess, which immediately determines the smooth sailing of his early development.
As for those who think that success can only be achieved after setbacks, this may be a fallacy in daily life, but in the struggle for the world, one mistake can never be recovered, and one setback may make it impossible to recover. People who have this kind of thinking are all armchair talkers, and they will end up dead and their clan wiped out once they go into battle.
Take Du Fuwei for example. Du Fuwei in this world is already a 40-year-old old man, but in real history, he should be 19 years old at this time. A true young hero, far superior to Li Shimin.
After all, Li Shimin relied on the power of his noble family, while he was just a lowly commoner who started from scratch. He raised his army at the age of sixteen in the ninth year of Daye, and was named a general in the tenth year of Daye. He defeated the Sui general Song Hao and merged the rebel forces of Miao Haichao, Zhao Pozhen and others. His force reached more than 50,000, and he was only seventeen years old at that time.
In the eleventh year of Daye, Du Fuwei was only eighteen years old. He occupied Liyang County and his military force had expanded to 100,000. At this time, as long as he was careful and captured Jiangdu County, the unification of the south would only take three years. By then, Emperor Yang of Sui would have no time to go to Jiangdu and could only stay in Luoyang.
Once such a situation was formed, Li Yuan and even the Wagang Army would not be able to rise smoothly. They would have to fight a decisive battle with the Sui Army to unify the north, while Du Fuwei could calmly unify the south and watch the chaos in the north. Once the time was ripe and the forces of all parties were almost exhausted, he could go north to unify the world. Maybe he would not even be 24 years old by then. This was an emperor who would be remembered throughout the ages. He started from scratch at the age of 16 and unified the world at the age of 24. Based on this process alone, he must be known as the number one emperor in military strategy in history.
But what is the truth?
In the eleventh year of Daye, Du Fuwei was only eighteen years old. Perhaps he was too young, or perhaps he was careless. When another rebel army led by Li Zitong also moved to Huainan to join Du Fuwei, Du Fuwei did not take strict precautions and accepted them with a smile.
As a result, Li Zitong attempted to annex Du Fuwei's army and launched a surprise attack on Du's army, which seriously injured Du Fuwei. The Sui army took the opportunity to attack, and Du's army was defeated. Fortunately, Du Fuwei had the wife of his subordinate Ximen Junyi, Wang, who was brave and strong, and carried Du Fuwei on her back to break through the siege. His confidant Wang Xiongdan led more than 10 warriors to cover the rear and fought to the death to escape. Although Du Fuwei gathered the remaining troops after the breakout and reorganized his troops in Liuhe County, at this time, he had already returned to his original form. Emperor Yang of Sui also moved 200,000 troops to Jiangdu. Therefore, although there were victories in the following years of fighting, it was of no help to the overall situation. It was just a wedding dress for others and tied down the largest Sui army at that time. In the end, although he was recruited by the Li family and named King of Wu, he was poisoned in February of the seventh year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty.
It can be said that this mistake ruined the foundation of a generation of emperors and Du Fuwei's life. Once he failed, he still wanted to make a comeback? It was as difficult as climbing to the sky. Twelve years after Daye, even if Li Shimin replaced Du Fuwei, it would be difficult to succeed.
Once he thought of this, Zhang Xuanning became extremely alert.
Therefore, although Chen Changlin surrendered to him in May and led 2,000 men to help in the battle, Zhang Xuanning still waited patiently for his clansmen to arrive, and arranged fields for them one by one in the inland counties, as far away from the coast as possible. This seemed to be preferential treatment, but was it also a way to control his family?
The navy was disbanded and reorganized, and the children of the Chen family were separated. All these measures were aimed at preventing such a "mutation" from happening.
Therefore, it took him two months to suddenly lead a thousand troops, divided into three fleets, disguised as merchant ships, and coordinated with each other. They mixed in the flow of millions of people at that time and headed for Chang'an. The timing was extremely ruthless. At this time, who could detect them among the countless fleets?
Seeing Zhang Xuanning didn't say anything, Chen Changlin snorted coldly and said, "The emperor issued an order last month to move the Jiangdu Palace and leave Yue Wang Dong, Guanglu Dafu Duan Da, Taifu Qing Yuan Wendu, Jianxiu Minbu Shangshu Wei Jin, Youwuwei General Huangfu Wuyi, Yousilang Lu Chu and others to take charge of the aftermath. As a result, Fengxinlang Cui Minxiang said that the palace was full of thieves and submitted a petition at Jianguo Gate, saying that it was not suitable for a tour. The emperor was furious and killed him. This month, the emperor drove to Sishui, and Fengxinlang Wang Airen again advised the emperor to return to Xijing because of the increasing number of thieves. As a result, he was killed again. He even killed people for advising him. I'm afraid the emperor has gone crazy, right?"
"Your Majesty is afraid of losing the south. If Your Majesty does not go to Jiangdu now, then Li Zitong and Du Fuwei's troops will probably be able to regain their momentum this year and maybe even take Jiangdu. Once Jiangdu is taken, with Jiangdu County's wealth and population, and as the transportation hub between the north and the south, whoever occupies this place will immediately have the momentum to sweep the south." Zhang Xuanning said with emotion. Seeing that Chen Changlin seemed dissatisfied, he said, "Of course, it is actually better for Your Majesty to stay in Luoyang, with one city controlling the north and the south. If you can send Zhang Xutuo as a general to Jiangdu, it will be enough to pacify the south."
Speaking of this, Zhang Xuanning couldn't help but look extremely ugly.
Zhang Xutuo was a famous general of the Sui Dynasty at that time. In February of the 17th year of Kaihuang, Zhang Xutuo followed the general manager Shi Wansui to attack the governor of Kunzhou and the leader of the Qiang tribe, Cuan Wan, and won a great victory.
In the fourth year of Renshou, Emperor Yang of Sui ascended the throne. Yang Liang, the governor of Bingzhou and the Prince of Han, felt that his safety was in danger, so he raised an army in Jinyang to rebel against Emperor Yang. Zhang Xutuo followed Yang Su, the governor of Bingzhou Road, to quell the rebellion.
In March of the seventh year of Daye, Wang Bo led a group of people to start an uprising in Changbai Mountain, with tens of thousands of people. Zhang Xutuo led troops to fight against Wang Bo, who was defeated repeatedly and had to flee across the Yellow River, but only 5,000 people were left.
In the ninth year of Daye, Wang Bo again joined forces with Sun Xuanya, Shi Lijie, and Hao Xiaode to lead an army of more than 100,000 people to attack Zhangqiu. Zhang Xutuo sent the navy to cut off their water transport, and led 20,000 infantry and cavalry to attack them. The rebel army was defeated, and when the scattered army fled to Jinliang, it was stopped by the navy again. Zhang Xutuo defeated the rebel army again by land and sea, and captured countless of their family supplies, which he reported to the emperor.
In the same year, Pei Changcai, Shi Zihe and others led 20,000 rebels to attack Licheng and looted. Zhang Xutuo did not have time to gather soldiers, so he led five cavalrymen to fight against the rebels. The rebels were attracted by him and led their troops to besiege. Zhang Xutuo was trapped in the siege and was wounded in many places, but his courage was even stronger. At that time, reinforcements arrived from the city and the rebels retreated slightly. Zhang Xutuo led his troops to fight again and defeated the rebels. Pei Changcai fled.
In the tenth year of Daye, Guo Fangyu of Beihai County gathered 30,000 people, called himself Lu Gong, captured the county city, and led his troops in uprising. Zhang Xutuo defeated the rebel army, killed tens of thousands of people, and captured 3,000 carts of baggage.
In the tenth year of Daye, Zhang Xutuo defeated Zuo Xiaoyou's army with 100,000 soldiers, and then defeated Lu Mingyue's army with 100,000 soldiers.
At this time, local officials either abandoned the city and fled or opened the gates to welcome the rebels. Only Zhang Xutuo was brave and good at fighting, and at the same time good at soothing and controlling, so he won the hearts of the army and was known as a famous general at that time.
If Emperor Yang of Sui really did not move in Luoyang, and Zhang Xutuo stayed in Jiangdu to encircle and suppress the southern uprising army, with his talent, he could definitely suppress Li Zitong and Du Fuwei's troops. At that time, both the north and the south would be unable to move. No matter how strong the Wagang Army was, it would be difficult for it to develop under the feet of hundreds of thousands of troops in Luoyang, and the Li clan would also not be able to rise up and occupy Chang'an.
In this case, the revival of the Sui Dynasty is still possible.
The biggest reason why Zhang Xutuo failed and died in his attempt to suppress the Wagang Army was probably the secret conspiracy of the northern and southern clans. A large part of the reason was that Zhang Xutuo's troops had been fighting in various places for the past ten years, repeatedly defeated large armies, and were unable to recuperate. Their elite troops were lost and their soldiers were exhausted.
Once Zhang Xutuo died, the Wagang Army rose in strength and attacked Luoyang. In fact, the north and the south were cut off. Emperor Yang of Sui was truly powerless and could only wait for death.
Thinking of this, Zhang Xuanning laughed. As Emperor Yang of Sui moved south, the north became empty. It was at this time that a wise man like Li Mi knew that the opportunity was rare in a century, so he decided to join the bandit Wagang Army, right?
This was the real reason why Li Mi was issued an ultimatum by the imperial court and fled for three years before resolutely joining the Wagang Army this year. It was also the reason why he refused Zhang Xuanning's recruitment - at this time, the North was truly an emperor's potential, and if he took advantage of the opportunity, his future would be limitless.
A family that was one of the Eight Pillars of the State and the Duke of Pushan County, he made the decision to join the rebel army and start a rebellion. This can be said to be an extremely wise decision.
He is truly a hero of the world. In comparison, Li Shimin, who relied on the power accumulated by his aristocratic family, may not be inferior in terms of talent alone, but he is indeed nothing.
It cannot be said that there are countless people who are better than Li Shimin. In fact, there are many people. However, the fight for hegemony over the world is the product of various factors, especially the combination of land and people. It is not determined by the personal qualities of the lord.
For example, if Zhang Xuanning himself could not successfully obtain Yang Gong's treasure, his starting point would be too low compared to Li Shimin. Although he might not really have no chance, it would still be extremely difficult.
If you can get Yang Gong's treasure, everything will be completely different. Within five years, you don't have to worry about money, rice, weapons and armor. Although it is not as good as the Li family's accumulation for generations, it will not be much worse. You can then burst out and have the capital to dominate the world.
This is also the trump card that can make the Song clan cooperate.
The Song clan occupied Lingnan, and the most he could do was to take Jian'an County, and he could not go south any further, because that was the sphere of influence of the Song clan. However, he did not need to think too highly of the Song clan, although there were more than a dozen counties there - Nanhai, Longchuan, Yi'an, Gaoliang, Xin'an, Yongxi, Cangwu, Shi'an, Yongping, Yulin, Hepu, Zhuya, Ningyue, Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, Rinnan, Bijing, Haiyin...
However, the population there is sparse and there are too many southern barbarians. The Song clan's actual mobilized power is not strong. After all, influence is not control. This point must be distinguished. If they had truly occupied these dozen counties, the south would have long been the world of the Song clan.
The Li family didn't care at all about reaching Chang'an on this trip. Now he was still out of reach. The most crucial thing was Shi Zhixuan of Wulou Temple and Cihang Jingzhai in secret.
At this time, Cihang Jingzhai was building up momentum in the north and had no direct knowledge of him. The south was also Cihang Jingzhai's weak spot, so it was impossible for them to know him, unless Cihang Jingzhai was really a god or Buddha.
As for Shi Zhixuan, he has a shortcoming. He is both the holy monk of Wuluo Temple and Pei Ju, or Pei Ju is his real name. After Emperor Yang of Sui ascended the throne, Pei Ju was highly valued and participated in the government. From the first to the ninth year of Daye, he traveled to Ganzhou, Liangzhou and Shazhou at least four times to manage the affairs of the Western Regions.
He had to be the one to do so many things, so others thought he was elusive, but in fact, to those who knew the inside story, his whereabouts were obvious. This time he took advantage of Pei Ju's trip to Jiangdu to go to Chang'an to hide the treasure - no matter what, it was not easy for Pei Ju to find a reason to run away in front of the emperor, and he could not get away for the time being.
Even if you get away, Shi Zhixuan is not a god, and it will take time for you to escape. It is impossible that the Immortal Seal can make you make rapid progress, right?
All kinds of precautions were taken to increase the number of safety factors for this trip. There was no room for error in major events, and in minor events, even if they were extremely unlucky and encountered a few officials who wanted to cause trouble along the way, with thousands of people, couldn't they solve it secretly? Wasn't this variable already kept to a minimum?
Or maybe someone on the ship went crazy and wanted to inform on the enemy, but was there really such a variable? The people who came with them this time were locals with families, and their families were under their control. If something went wrong, the whole family would be executed. Was there really such a variable without logic or reason?
This is truly incredible.
The world can be very complex, but in fact it is also very simple. How complex the world is is the world's business, and how complex the human world is is the human world's business. This is actually not important. In the game field, what is measured is not who is more complex, but who is more objective. The so-called objectivity is actually to grasp the key points of the development of things and control the variables. Real history has already made countless proofs of this.
In this world, there is no rebellion without reason, and no surrender without reason. The so-called variables are nothing but a trivial matter when you have already controlled the most important points and have strangled the throat of fate.
In the original world, besides being depressed for a while because of the seizure of power, did Taizu have any real strategic setbacks? If he often likes to "grow up through setbacks" and imitate Du Fuwei to create "Li Zitong variables", his body would have been buried somewhere long ago - what is the purpose of purges, rectification, movements, etc.? It is to strangle variables and keep everything under control.
Of course, this is because one has gained foresight of this world, knows all the outcomes, and has the wisdom to see through the true nature of history, which allows one to manipulate history with methods so close to those of a god.
Once Yang Gong's treasure is taken, the situation in the south will change drastically. His calculations, which are close to God and Tao, will be shattered. However, even if he cannot foresee it, he has insight into politics and the world, and he is confident that he can compete with the heroes in the world for the world at that time.
"My lord, we are already outside the city of Chang'an." Chen Changlin stepped forward and reported.
The 800-li Qinchuan Plain and the Guanzhong Plain are home to the majestic city of Chang'an, with the Jing, Wei, Bi, Ba, Li, and Lao rivers circling around them like a string of sparkling, flowing beads, forming a situation where "eight rivers surround Chang'an".
The Sui Dynasty established its capital in Chang'an.
It is true that the thousands of houses are like a Go board, and the twelve streets are like vegetable fields.
Our fleet could enter the Wei River through the Guangtong Canal. In terms of transportation, Luoyang might be three points better. But in terms of military situation, the Wei River Plain where Chang'an is located is called Guanzhong because it has Tongguan, Dasanguan in the west, Wuguan in the south, and Xiaoguan in the north. It is located within the four passes, so it is called Guanzhong.
Tongguan is the first of the four passes and was built by the Qin people during the Warring States Period. It is adjacent to the Yellow River in the north and is close to the mountains. It is more than 100 miles long from east to west. The road was opened in the cracks of broken rocks. "Cars cannot fit on the track and horses cannot ride side by side." It is so dangerous that one man can block the pass and ten thousand men cannot pass. Its original name was Hangu Pass, and it was renamed Tongguan after the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Twin peaks stand tall beside the river, and Hangu Pass has been a battlefield since ancient times.
By occupying this place, we will have no external worries and will have plenty of fertile land to obtain food. This is the true talent for an emperor!
Whoever can obtain it will indeed obtain the dragon eye of the world.
However, the struggle for the world does not rely solely on geographical advantages.
Chang'an, here I am again.
A smile flashed across Zhang Xuanning's lips. It was drizzling outside the boat, and both sides of the river were shrouded in white. He took a few breaths of the misty air, looked down at the misty scene in the distance, felt the endless misty rain falling with the wind, and the lush farmland on both sides, and sighed with satisfaction.
The landscape is so picturesque that it has attracted countless heroes to bow down to it. The wind is like this, the rain is like this, and so are the people!
