Five months have passed since Fang Jie left Chang'an, and the number of Minyong gathered in Gyeonggi-do has exceeded 800,000. These young and strong men from all walks of life in the Central Plains left their homes with ambitions to achieve fame and fame, and brought weapons and clothes. Some traveled hundreds of miles, some traveled thousands of miles, and gathered in Chang'an. outside the city.
These brave soldiers are divided into armies, battalions, and teams according to the organization of soldiers.
According to the ancestral system of conscription in the Great Sui Dynasty, the families of soldiers are all military members and have certain privileges. Unless necessary, the candidates for soldiers will never be selected from civilians other than military status. And this time to recruit Xiaoyong, all children from good families can sign up, anyone over the age of seventeen and under forty, with no record of committing a crime, and anyone with a clean family background can join the army.
Several acropolises outside Chang'an City have been turned into huge training grounds.
However, the number of people signing up to join the army is still increasing, and young and strong men with dreams of military merits coming from all over the country continue to enter Gyeonggi-do. The official roads are full of men heading towards Chang'an, wearing simple leather armor made by themselves and holding knives forged in a blacksmith's shop in the country. Some are leading rough horses, some are leading mules, and some are leading donkeys.
No one thinks that war is cruel, and all they see in their eyes is a bright future. In peaceful times, they can only do farming and business, and they have no way to change their destiny by their own ability. But when the war came, they suddenly found a golden road appeared in front of them.
They are all ordinary people, and they have never seen blood flow into rivers on the battlefield.
They only remember the regrets in the hearts of their grandparents and parents, and only look forward to a bright future. All of them got their fame immediately because of that sentence. Who doesn't want to become a great general
At this time, Luo Yao, this person's name has been mentioned countless times.
When discussing, people often say, look, Luo Yao was just a poor boy from a poor family back then. If it wasn't for the war, he might still be herding sheep on the hillside of his hometown in the northwest, or weeding the fields with a hoe on his shoulders. Because of the war, this ordinary peasant boy became a big man who was destined to leave a strong mark in the history books of the Sui Dynasty.
He wasn't from a military family either, but didn't he win many battles on the battlefield with his courage
The young men who arrived in Gyeonggi-do, everyone's face was full of excitement. They deliberately forget that they may die in the Northwest, and forget that every successful person in history has piled up with bones. They all feel that they have a chance to be the winner and someone else is the corpse.
The generals of each guard assigned a lot of veterans to train these brave men, and the veterans tried to tell those young men that the war was not a child's play. But no one really listened. To them, the bloody stories told by the veterans were good. Let their blood boil, let their hearts be full of fighting spirit.
No matter how full the treasury of the Sui Dynasty was, food and grass could still be supplied, and salaries could barely be paid, but it was obviously difficult to gather equipment for a while. After the screening, there were still more than 800,000 heroes left, and the treasury of the Ministry of War was almost emptied, and it was not enough for each of them to get a piece of leather armor.
Since these days, the emperor's mood seems to have improved a lot. Because of his call, the sons and daughters of the Sui Dynasty came. No one fears, no one resists, and they are all willing to give their lives for this empire. So the haze in the emperor's heart was gradually replaced by passion. He would occasionally climb the towering Chang'an city wall and look down at the brave men below. At this time, he was sure that as long as he stretched out his hand and pointed forward, these men would scream Go in the direction he pointed.
It's certainly exciting, isn't it
He is the supreme emperor, the helm of this empire.
Although he wasn't old, he hadn't felt this surge of emotion for many years.
"With people like this, what else do I worry about?"
he said with a smile.
The city wall of Chang'an City is too high. Standing on the top and overlooking the outside of the city, the people below appear very small. So the emperor couldn't see those brave men fighting for a place to sleep, he couldn't see someone who dared to glare at the veterans, and he couldn't see someone taking advantage of the chaos and stealing the few silver coins in the backpacks of the people around him.
He only saw that hundreds of thousands of people came for him.
"The people of the Sui Dynasty are willing to sacrifice their lives for His Majesty at any time."
Huangmen servant Pei Yan pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose, leaned over and said with a smile.
He was very satisfied with the little gift that Fang Jie gave him, and he could tell that this young man was very caring. He and Fang Jie only talked once, and Fang Jie must have noticed that his eyes are not very good. Reviewing memorials in the small house in the inner court all the year round, no matter how brightly the lights are selected, the eyes will still become more and more blurred over the years.
These glasses are very good, let him see things a lot clearer.
He knew that the emperor also had one, and it was also given by Fang Jie.
He didn't hide the glasses from the emperor to see, on the contrary, he deliberately let the emperor see. Sometimes let the emperor remember a person's name, there is no need to say it. The gadget carried on the bridge of his nose reminded him of the young man who was held by Luo Yao in the left halfback.
"Luo Yao's left forward has arrived at Huangyang Road."
Pei Yan said in a low voice: "The defense has been set up on the south bank of the Huangniu River. With the left guard at hand, Huang Yangdao need not worry. The imperial army just needs to storm the Hexi Road, and the rebel army will never be able to stop His Majesty Tianwei."
"You had a good idea at the beginning."
The emperor smiled and said: "You said that there is no need to mobilize troops to garrison Huangyang Dao, because Huangyang Dao is the barrier of the four southwest roads, no matter whether Luo Yao has rebellion or not, he will not sit back and watch Huangyang Dao fail. I have long expected that Luo Yao would not separate his troops, and he would immediately lead his troops northward. I can't trust this man, but Southwest cannot do without him. I think what you said a while ago makes sense. Luo Yao didn't turn his back on it, why? He will not rebel against anything. If he rebels, he will rebel against everything."
"Really, in the past, to guard against him, he mobilized troops to guard the south of the Yangtze River. Thinking about it now, why not force Luo Yao and me to drift away?"
"Your Majesty is holy."
Pei Yan said: "Luo Yao went north to Huangyang Road, which can not only disperse the rebel forces, but also transfer Luo Yao from Yongzhou, killing two birds with one stone."
The emperor hummed and looked at the hero under the city wall. His face was a little flushed, it was deliberately suppressed excitement.
"I lost 700,000 elites in the Northwest. Li Yuanshan lied to me once, and I admitted that I was fooled by him, but I will not suffer a second time for such a loss. I am sitting on the four seas, and the world is my heart. The 700,000 army No more, there are still 700,000, 700,000 people and 70,000,000 serving for me! Li Yuanshan thinks the emperor can sit anywhere? Do you think he can fight against me as long as he occupies the poor land in the northwest?"
"The foundation of the Great Sui Dynasty will last forever, and no ghosts and monsters can covet it!"
The emperor paused, then glanced at Pei Yan.
"You purposely wear these glasses to help Fang Jie speak?"
Pei Yan's complexion changed, and he quickly lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty's eyes can't be hidden from your careful thinking."
The emperor snorted and said, "You know that I hate opportunistic people the most, and courtiers who make money and form cliques."
"I dare not!"
Pei Yan bowed deeply.
"I know you don't have that in mind. You have been sitting in the inner court room to share my worries for so many years. You have a detached position in the court. If you want to form a party for personal gain, you will already be surrounded by countless sycophants."
"The glasses are very good. I have one too. They are even more beautiful than yours!"
He said a word, turned and left.
The corner of Pei Yan's mouth twitched, and there was a flash of smugness in his eyes.
No one can grasp the emperor's mind more accurately than him.
…
…
General Xu Xiaogong led his people around the brave camp, frowning all the time. These brave men seem to have high fighting spirit, and each of them seems to refuse to accept anyone. But in Xu Xiaogong's eyes, even though there are some people with outstanding martial arts skills, these brave men are basically a mess. The original estimate was too optimistic, thinking that after several months of training, even if these people could not be compared with soldiers, they could at least abide by the basic military discipline.
The first few armies trained were barely usable, and at least the queue was tidy when they were pulled out. The quality of these later people became more and more worrying. Among them, there are even many villains who spent money to issue a document of innocence in the local government, and transformed themselves from local hooligans into soldiers of the country!
Such an army can really fight
Xu Xiaogong, who has led the army for more than twenty years, is full of doubts.
"Brother Xiaolian!"
While he was thinking, someone called him from behind.
Xu Xiaogong looked back, and saw that it was the newly appointed Zuo Wuwei General Liu Enjing who was quickly chasing him.
Liu Enjing used to be a general in the right avant-garde back then. Later, because her father passed away, she had to observe mourning for three years. Zuo Wuwei rebelled, Yu Manlou was killed, the emperor decreed to rebuild Zuo Wuwei, and Liu Enjing came back out of love. This man is also a battle-tested veteran. He was once recognized as the most promising young man in the army when he conquered the Shang Kingdom. But decades have passed, and the young man who was full of vigor back then is now graying at the temples.
He was only less than fifty years old, and he looked like he had experienced many vicissitudes.
"En Gu, why are you here?"
Liu Enjing followed quickly, and clasped her fists together: "It's not for the selection of soldiers. Zuo Wuwei has not yet been filled with soldiers. The military households have picked and picked and failed to gather the number of guards, so they have no choice but to come to the Xiaoyong Camp. Choose."
"well… "
Xu Xiaogong sighed: "It's hard for you."
Liu Enjing shook her head, took Xu Xiaogong's hand and walked aside: "Brother Xiaolian, why don't you tell His Majesty that if these bravery are not restrained, trouble will arise sooner or later."
"explain?"
Xu Xiaogong smiled wryly and said: "Your Majesty issued three decrees in succession to reward the brave. From His Majesty's point of view, these brave people are the most loyal subjects. A while ago there were brave people making troubles, and Zuo Zuowei alone cut down a few people according to military law. When His Majesty learned of this, he was furious, and beat that other general twenty lashes to the end, who would dare to say that?"
"Your Majesty's temperament seems to have become more and more unpredictable in the past two years."
Liu Enjing lowered her voice and said, "How about going to Pei Yan? I heard that His Majesty trusts this person the most. If he is willing to talk about it, it may be useful. If this continues, no matter how many people there are, these brave men are nothing It is a group of mobs, how can they be dragged to the battlefield to defend against the enemy?"
"Pei Yan?"
Xu Xiaogong snorted coldly: "If you have money, just go to him again."
"In the past year, all your majesty's thoughts have been on how to subdue the northwest, and most of the affairs in the court have been handed over to Pei Yan. This person used to look clear and fair, but now he is getting more and more greedy. Take Huang Yangdao As far as the matter is concerned, it is reasonable to deploy troops to defend, but His Majesty just listened to Pei Yan, saying that the rebels forced Luo Yao to force the left avant-garde to go north to fight against the enemy... This kind of death... this kind of nonsense can be said come out!"
"Your Majesty is getting more and more paranoid."
Liu Enjing sighed: "Although I have only returned to Chang'an not long ago, I can see it. Your Majesty only cares about the Northwest, and rarely cares about other state affairs. Except for the Northwest, His Majesty spends most of his time teaching the prince... Ten years old, two days ago I heard that His Majesty had asked the crown prince to review the memorial, I couldn't figure it out, what happened to Your Majesty!"
"Maybe we're thinking too much."
Xu Xiaogong was silent for a while and said: "The troops in the left vanguard have already arrived at Huangyang Road, and it is said that they have lined up along the Huangniu River for defense. Luo Yao's ability to lead the army is still few people can match, as long as he is not dirty, the rebels can't win. And Your Majesty There is only the heir of the prince, so it is reasonable to value the prince..."
"Who knows..."
Liu Enjing shook her head: "Just hope that this battle will be over soon."
Xu Xiaogong nodded: "Da Sui, we can't make any more trouble..."