Chen Qi is a person without any ideas. He is honest, brave and perseverant. "" () But even so, he still knew in his heart that compared with other generals around King Bei, he had no advantage in commanding troops to fight. The only advantage he had was his bravery. But according to the character of the Northern King, it is okay for a brave general to attack a city, but not to command an army. He can only be a general, but cannot command an army. However, he was able to achieve the position of the governor of Bingzhou, and was able to command an army of 100,000 men alone. Chen Qi knew very well that this was because he was Bei Wang's confidant, and Bei Wang valued his loyalty. so. After serving as the Governor of Bingzhou, Chen Qi still led the army to train as usual, and he often lived in the military camp. He did not have the airs of the Governor of Bingzhou at all.
On this day, after Chen Qi received Li Shimin's imperial edict from Baiyan City, he immediately ordered Pei Xingjian to lead 30,000 black cavalry troops to rush to Youzhou. The reason why he sent out 30,000 fine cavalry so quickly was because he happened to have 30,000 black cavalry in hand to mobilize. Among the remaining army, the 20,000 heavy cavalry battalion will not be used easily. The mobilization of 20,000 ghost-faced cavalry needs to be more cautious. The remaining 10,000 wolf cavalry battalion will guard Taiyuan City.
so,
When Pei Xinglian led his army to leave, he wrote a letter about the matter and gave it to his personal guard, asking him to send it to Qingtang City in the northwest to let the Northern King Li Ke know.
Li Ke has been in the northwest for nearly four months. During these four months, he handed over all Chang'an intelligence summaries and Liaodong battle reports to Di Zhisun. In addition to going out to hunt in the city every day, he would play Cuju with the Eagle Guards, or else Reading books and practicing in the study room lead a very comfortable life.
On this day, as soon as he returned to the royal residence after hunting, he saw Su Dingfang and Di Zhisun coming in a hurry.
"Dingfang, Tonghuai, you are in such a hurry, what happened?" Li Ke said with a smile.
"Your Highness, a letter from Bingzhou Chen Qi!" Di Zhisun handed the letter to Li Ke.
In fact, Li Ke's close generals all knew that Chen Qi took the position of governor of Bingzhou at the age of less than thirty. This was the deliberate result of the Northern King. It was not for any other reason but Chen Qi's. The personal guard of the Northern King, his loyalty to the Northern King is unparalleled.
?? And Bingzhou was also the place where Li Ke made his fortune. It was a political plan to put Chen Qi in charge of Bingzhou.
Therefore, when Su Dingfang received Chen Qi's letter to Li Ke, he knew about Di Zhisun, and the two came to see Li Ke together.
Li Ke opened the letter, read it carefully, handed the letter to the two of them and said, "Let's go to the study to talk!"
The three of them came to the study. Su Dingfang and Di Zhisun had already read the letter written by Chen Qi to Li Ke.
"What is the meaning of the father?" Li Ke asked.
In fact, during this period of time in Qingtang City, Li Ke kept thinking about a question, that is, as Tian Khan, would Li Shimin be afraid that he was too outstanding? In other words, is he afraid that he will be too powerful and threaten his throne? Won't! Absolutely not, Li Ke believed that Li Shimin would never think so. However, if he doesn't think so, why would he still doubt himself? After Li Ke's careful consideration and the results of past historical experience, Li Ke got the answer: That is, Li Shimin is not afraid of his own weight, not afraid of his high prestige, not afraid of his great achievements, but afraid of being too rich!
why?
Li Ke believes that even if you are a general with a heavy army, no matter how self-respecting you are, the army in your hands is still the army of the imperial court, and all their food and supplies come from the imperial court. For such a general, you have to threaten the imperial power. , as long as you cut off the food and salary of your army and show justice to the soldiers, they will collapse without a fight and fight back. A general like this will not threaten his imperial rule at all. However, Li Ke found that he was not such a person. Because the army of hundreds of thousands in his hands was not an army formed by the Tang Dynasty, but a private army that he spent his own money on. Imagine that an army that has been spending its own money is still so powerful in combat. If you have evil intentions, no matter how righteous your court is, will they listen? Will they fight back? Definitely not, because they know in their hearts whose food they are eating, whose money they are spending, and whose life they are working for.
Therefore, Li Ke believes that no matter how much power he delegates, as long as he has money and as long as he spends money to privately support such a huge army, Li Shimin will always be suspicious of him.
In fact, after figuring this out, Li Ke naturally understood Li Shimin's helplessness.
Because, he guessed that Li Shimin also wanted to take back the command of the black guards. However, he does not have this ability. Because Black Guards implements a professional military system, all those who join the army will be given money according to their positions, so that they can provide for their wives, children, and mothers, which solves their worries. Also, ?Once you become disabled on the field, you will have enough pension money for a lifetime. Even at the age of forty-five, veteran warriors who quit martial arts will have a sum of money that can be used for the rest of their lives.
"This requires a huge amount of money to support, but the Tang Dynasty's finances were shocked. The national treasury was not sufficient, and it was impossible to spend so much money to support this army of hundreds of thousands. Also, even if he had money to support him, there were so many armies in the Tang Dynasty. Regardless of whether there were only black guards, as long as Li Shimin raised black guards, he would treat other armies equally. How much money does this cost? This is definitely not what the Tang treasury can bear.
Therefore, Li Ke believes that it is for this reason that Li Shimin has not dared to take back the leadership of the Black Guards until now.
Therefore, Li Ke also analyzed the problem of the combat effectiveness of the Black Guards and other armies.
Why is the combat effectiveness of the Black Guards so strong, while the combat effectiveness of other armies is not good?
Li Ke believes that this is first a training issue. The second is the issue of mentality.
Needless to say, the training intensity of the Black Guards is stronger than that of any army in the Tang Dynasty. Just imagine that the soldiers trained under such high intensity, coupled with the advantages in weapons, can their combat effectiveness be stronger than other armies?
It¡¯s a matter of mentality.
Other armies are soldiers under the Fubing system. Among them, except for the Twelve Guards of the Tang Dynasty and a few border troops whose equipment is handled by the court, many soldiers bring their own equipment. Secondly, they are all serving in the military, and they are young men recruited by the Tang Dynasty. Unlike the professional soldiers of the Black Guards, they have no money to get, so they will inevitably have ties in their hearts, so they naturally don't have to be distracted when fighting. The guards in black are much inferior.
Li Ke knows that human nature is selfish! If the Tang Dynasty had not had the conscription system of military service, there would not have been so many people carrying their own equipment to die and leaving their wives, children, and widowed mothers behind.
Therefore, when all these factors come together, it is natural that the black guards have strong combat effectiveness.
"Your Highness, the emperor only mobilized 30,000 Bingzhou elite cavalry to escort the safety of the grain team. It shows that he still does not want to use the black guard army!" Di Zhisun said lightly, "The mobilization of these 30,000 troops may also be a last resort. It¡¯s a decision I made later!¡±
"Hey - the battle in Liaodong is dangerous!" Li Ke sighed and said nothing.
Su Dingfang and Di Zhisun were also silent.
Because they understood the meaning of Li Ke's words, there are two different concepts: the emperor's personal expedition and the sending of generals to the north. If we were to send a general to march north, as long as a city was captured, all the food in the city would be requisitioned, and the able-bodied people would become civilians, responsible for transporting food and wages. As for the emperor's reputation during the Northern Expedition, Wang Shi should not be as arrogant as ordinary generals. He should be benevolent, righteous, and moral. He should not rob the people of food, but also distribute official food to the poor people. This made him fall into the current situation. in trouble.
??Besides, since the Koreans have already made arrangements for this plan, there will not be much food available in the cities they garrisoned and the cities they abandoned.
"Hey - this is a long fight!" Su Dingfang also sighed, but when he said this, he said again, "It's really frustrating!"
"Actually, not only my father, but even this king is in such an environment. There is no sure way to do it. He can only use dangerous tactics to send an army to attack the Goryeo city. He must capture several of them before they run out of food. City, replenish your food, grass and luggage." Li Ke said lightly.
But then he added, "Of course, my king's army is not as benevolent and righteous as my father's army -"
Su Dingfang and Di Zhisun were immediately happy when they heard it!
Because what Li Ke said is true.
If the black-clad guards were allowed to march north to conquer Goryeo, Liaodong would probably be a river of blood now. It is also possible that the official road from Youzhou to Chang'an would have been repaired by Goryeo coolies!
But the two of them sighed slightly.
Because, in reality, it was not the black guards who marched to the north of Goryeo this time, but the king's division, and it was the emperor himself who conquered Goryeo.
"There are still few people who support me!" After a while, Li Ke uttered such a sentence, which made Su Dingfang and Di Zhisun wonder. They didn't know what to say for a while.