Chapter 474 Holding back tears and saying goodbye

Chapter 474 Holding back tears and saying goodbye

Since the army had issued the order, it was time for the army to set out. However, it always takes time to gather the troops and pack up. Li Tai did not need to turn around and leave immediately after receiving the order. He did not even have time to say goodbye to his family.

After determining the personnel to go to the expedition and those to stay behind, Li Tai handed over the packing matters to his subordinates. He took some time to return to his home in the city and said goodbye to his wife briefly.

They were newlyweds, but her husband soon devoted himself to official duties, leaving early and returning late every day. Now he has to lead the army to go to war again. As a result, the time they actually spent together did not increase much compared to before marriage. Miaoyin naturally felt a little sad.

But when facing her husband, she suppressed her melancholy and just forced a smile and said, "If it weren't for my husband's hard work in the king's army, how could I live in peace and enjoy wealth? My husband doesn't need to worry about household affairs, and I have no worries about food and clothing. Even if I feel bored, I can go home to have fun. But my husband is away in the army, so he must take care of himself, report to the king and father when things happen, and always worry about him after things are over..." As she spoke, she took out a bunch of plain silk gauze from her bosom, held it in her hands and pressed it against her forehead, with a solemn expression and muttering to herself, a piece of After a while, she carefully wrapped the silk gauze with brocade, and handed it to Li Tai with care, saying solemnly: "This Buddhist gauze is the Buddha's blessing that I prayed for Buddha's grace and care in the hall. Please put it away properly, and don't let it get dirty. If there is anything in the battle, just a small wound, wrap it with this Buddhist gauze and apply it to treat it, it can cure convulsions and carbuncle poison..." Seeing the serious and solemn expression on the face of this young lady, Li Tai was moved and felt more and more sad, and felt more and more about the misfortune of people in troubled times. Some people see the grandeur of kings, generals, and iron horses, but how many joys and sorrows are accompanied by it? During the more than 300 years of chaos in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, how many women, like my wife, were full of worries, sadness, anxiety, and beautiful hopes, and sent their husbands, fathers, brothers, or sons to the battlefield, but how many expectations could be fulfilled and their relatives could return safely? As he put the gauze close to his body, he secretly decided in his heart that after the battle, he must give this young lady a few biology lessons. Where can the Buddha's power come from to cure the wound infection! The young lady naturally didn't know that her husband was complaining about her being an uneducated country bumpkin, and she still regretted: "This Buddhist gauze should be chanted for an hour every day for forty-nine days to be full of Buddha's power. But I only remembered to play in the first few days of my wedding, and when I remembered to do it again, it has been less than forty-nine days. My husband will make do with it for now and avoid the enemy's sharp arrows in the battle. From now on, I will work hard to save a lot of Buddhist gauze with full vows for my husband, and my husband can..." No matter how full this vow is, I dare not go forward to face the enemy's sharp arrows! Li Tai quickly raised his hand to interrupt the young lady's chattering. He didn't want her to stay at home to do these useless things, so he said: "The power of gods and Buddhas is elusive, and human power is the real expectation. Although my wife has enough food and clothing, not everyone is like this. As for the poor people in Guanxi, although my husband and I can't take care of them, the soldiers under my command have worked hard and fought with me. If their parents, wives and children are still starving and cold in the country, then I, the general and lord, am unjust..." "Don't worry, my husband, after you go to war, I will visit the families of those subordinates frequently, and give them clothes if they don't have clothes, and give them food if they don't have food! I will make my husband the most benevolent lord in Guanxi and the whole world!" When the young lady heard that there was still a task assigned to her, she nodded repeatedly and promised with her fists clenched. "You still have to do what you can. No matter how much you give, it's not right. Just enough is precious." Li Tai smiled again. He naturally didn't want his wife to learn from other noble ladies to donate money to worship Buddha because she had nothing to do and was worried about the safety of her relatives. She would have to take it back after she donated it. It would be better to directly donate it to help those poor people among his subordinates. He chatted with his wife for a few more words. Seeing that it was getting late, he put away his reluctance, waved goodbye to his wife with a smile, and then went out to mount his horse and rode away. Miaoyin forced a smile to send her husband out the door, and waited until her husband disappeared at the corner of the street. There was still a stiff and dry smile on her face. It was not until the maid came forward and reminded her quietly that she couldn't help but burst into tears and returned home with her face covered. A large army usually needs a swearing-in ceremony before going out to war, but Li Tai's troops, as the vanguard, have no chance to attend this ceremony. They need to go out of Tongguan to inspect and open up the front road to ensure that the rear army can move unimpeded.

For this expedition, the 3,000 vanguard troops were all dispatched by the Grand Commandery of the Rear Army, including 1,000 light cavalry and 2,000 infantry.

But this is the standard for the expedition personnel given by the military order of the Bafu, and does not include all the troops of Li Tai's troops, especially his private troops. He can take as many as he wants, and the Bafu has no restrictions on this, but the Bafu is only responsible for the arming and supplies of the 3,000 infantry.

In other words, if Li Tai has the ability to mobilize 100,000 troops in Guanxi to go east to fight, the Bafu will not prohibit it. But if he really has such a strong mobilization power, why would he go east? He can directly compete with the boss Yuwen Tai.

Li Tai did not intend to operate in Henan for a long time, nor did he want to expose his potential to the trend of the times. Moreover, he was only responsible for the frontline battle, so he only gathered 5,000 troops. In addition to the 3,000 infantry and cavalry of the military office, he also selected 2,000 elite cavalry under his command.

As for the accompanying personnel, they were Deputy General Tian Hong, Chief of the Office Linghu Yanbao, Military Sima Li Quji, and his disciples Liang Shiyan, He Ruodun, Gao Le, etc. The personnel were simpler than the last time they attacked Jinyang.

After all, he was only acting as a vanguard general this time, not as the main general. If he commanded too many generals, it would be a bit overwhelming. Therefore, he led a small number of elites to go on an expedition, while the others either stayed in the country to continue to recuperate, or went to northern Shaanxi for business. develop.

When the troops and horses gathered together, Li Tai went to the Tai Mansion and the Chinese Army Military Mansion to bid farewell. Immediately, he led the more than 5,000 men and horses under his command to leave the camp and run southward. On the first day, they marched more than 30 miles and arrived at Shayuan. Stay at the camp on the east bank of Luoshui in the northeast.

Early the next morning, the army continued to march southeast, crossed the Wei River and entered Huayin. There is an official warehouse in Huayin, where the army replenishes its ordnance and supplies, and receives rationed transportation and services such as chariots, horses, and soldiers.

Due to recent changes in the situation in Henan, the Bafu has ordered FM to be imposed on the entire Kansai region. Huashan County is responsible for allocating various materials to the army in the entire Weinan region. Therefore, the entire Huayin area has dozens of camps, and everyone who looks around is here to collect supplies. The army consists of Chinese soldiers and horses brought back to Bafu from elsewhere, as well as armed regiments from various prefectures, counties and villages.

Although the troops here were numerous and disorganized, the arrival of Li Tai's entire 5,000 troops was a sight to behold. Most of the Kansai Township regiments are infantry-based. Even with the elite Bafu army, the ratio of infantry to cavalry is three to one or even four to one.

As Li Tai was the pioneer, the ratio of infantry and cavalry assigned by Bafu was only two to one. But he couldn't stand up to his wealth, so he added a full two thousand fine cavalry. The proportion of cavalry in the army far exceeded that of infantry, and it seemed that they were not easy to bully.

Therefore, when his troops crossed the river and came south, the surrounding people, whether they knew him or not, all looked at him in awe, and spontaneously gave way to the road, allowing his troops to enter the camp on the slope unimpeded.

Zhao Su, the prefect of Huashan County, had already stood waiting in front of the camp gate. When he saw Li Tai approaching on horseback, he strode forward to greet him: "I have been here waiting for Duke Xihe for a long time. The men, horses, materials and soldiers of Xihe Duke's office have already been allocated. They can be paid immediately." Give."

Zhao Su was still Li Tai's subordinate in Tai Mansion. When Li Tai saw so many people gathered here, he thought it would take a lot of time to handle the matter. Unexpectedly, Zhao Su had already done it for him first, so he nodded with satisfaction and said He said with a smile: "Thank you for your service to Mr. Zhao. I am in the army and it is not convenient to have a banquet to express my gratitude. I will definitely conspire with Mr. Fu to get drunk when I return in triumph."

The two of them were chatting here for a while, when suddenly a county official hurried over and whispered something to Zhao Su. After hearing this, Zhao Su's expression suddenly changed. He looked at Li Tai but hesitated to speak, and apologized after a moment. Say goodbye and leave.

When Li Tai saw this, he motioned to Li Quji to follow him and take a look. Zhao Su was not only his subordinate but also helped a lot. If he encountered any difficulties and it was convenient for him, he might as well help.

Li Quji did not return until half an hour after leaving. Soon after, he reported to Li Tai something that made people laugh or cry: some state soldiers were dissatisfied with the amount of supplies allocated by Huashan County and actually robbed an official warehouse. After hearing the news, Li Quji came back The county soldiers were in a stalemate, and Li Quji led others to help before disarming the state soldiers and arresting them.

After hearing this, Li Tai couldn't help but sigh secretly, we Guanxi children are so unruly and lawless. The reason why his troops are able to maintain strict military discipline is because he does everything he can to collect money from everywhere and ensure that the military is not in short supply.

Now that the rebellious state soldiers have been captured, Li Tai no longer asks how Zhao Su will deal with it. It has nothing to do with him anyway.

But just when he had dinner and was about to go into his tent to rest, soldiers from the camp came to report that someone was knocking on the door to see him.