NIP Chapter 2565 King of Beiliang!
Chapter 2565 King of Beiliang!
Chapter 2565 King of Beiliang!
The reason why Han Zhang recruited so few people was entirely because Suzhou was now under the control of the Guiyi Army. Most of the Han people here had become soldiers, and there were very few beggars who were unwilling to serve as soldiers.
However, Wang Yue was not dissatisfied. He still did the same as he did in Ganzhou. He came to Suzhou quietly during the march, asked Han Zhang and his men to put on armor and weapons, and then quietly opened the city gate on the east side of Suzhou.
Not long after the Suzhou city gate was opened, Wang Yue led 20,000 troops into the city and easily captured the leader of the Guiyi Army.
Because there were only more than 2000 Guiyi troops in Suzhou, the leader of the Guiyi army surrendered directly when faced with an army of more than that suddenly attacked the city.
As mentioned before, the Guiyi Army and the Uighurs had surrendered to each other many times, except for changing some leaders. Whoever had the greater power had the final say.
After Wang Yue captured the city, he asked Han Zhang to lead more than 1000 Beggar Gang disciples and drew people from the army to stay in Suzhou City and guard the prisoners. Then Wang Yue took the rest away and headed towards Guazhou.
The person who opened a branch of the Beggars' Gang in Guazhou was Lu Fang. He was slightly more capable than Han Zhang. In addition, Guazhou was very close to Shazhou and there were many Han people here, so he was able to recruit more than 3000 people to join the Beggars' Gang.
Of course, just like the other brothers, many of these recruited Beggar Gang disciples were not from families so poor that they had to become beggars. They just wanted to find a place to get money and food.
The several Beggar Gang branches in Liangzhou City distributed food to the Beggar Gang disciples on time, which was why they were able to recruit so many people quietly.
Otherwise, a city with hundreds of beggars would already be large enough, but if there were two or three thousand beggars, it would be too scary, and I'm afraid the local leaders would not be able to sleep.
Lu Fang recruited so many people, and after Wang Yue delivered the armor, he directly controlled the city gate of Guazhou before the more than 20,000 soldiers led by Wang Yue arrived.
As a result, the Guiyi Army in Guazhou City could not withstand the attack and surrendered quickly.
……
The Cao clan of the Shazhou Guiyi Army had no idea that Guazhou had fallen and was still on guard against the Uighurs of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Suddenly, Wang Yue and his 20,000 troops arrived at the city gates and they were completely unprepared.
The number of Guiyi troops led by Cao in Shazhou was less than 20,000. Since both sides were evenly matched, it should have been impossible to attack the city.
However, Wang Yue was very strong. Wearing armor and withstanding the arrows, he climbed to the top of the city wall and opened a passage for the army behind him to climb the city wall.
Therefore, a battle that was originally supposed to be one in which the defenders would have the upper hand turned into a war of equal strength.
Of course, with Wang Yue around, there was no such thing as an evenly matched situation. However, Wang Yue knew that no matter whether it was the leader of the Uighurs or the high-level officials of the Cao family's Guiyi Army in Shazhou, they were not easy to control.
And Wang Yue didn't want to waste so many control talismans on them, so he deliberately arranged this conflict.
After a great battle, all the leaders of the Uighurs were killed, and all the generals of the Cao family's Guiyi Army in Shazhou were also killed. Then Wang Yue easily controlled the two armies.
At this point, Wang Yue took over the entire Hexi Corridor, with more than 40,000 soldiers and horses under his command, becoming the true King of Xiliang.
However, Wang Yue did not call himself the King of Western Liang, but called himself the Jiedushi of Northern Liang, and the soldiers under his command were also called the Northern Liang Army.
By doing this, Wang Yue is actually following the path of Li Deming and his son, leaving them with no way out!
With such a small population and defending such a long border, Beiliang could not pose any threat to Liao and Song, let alone Tubo.
However, for Li Deming and Li Yuanhao, father and son, it was a strong rival, an enemy who competed with them for living space.
Therefore, after Wang Yue completed his strategic intention, he focused his defense on Li Yuanhao and Li Deming, father and son.
Li Yuanhao and Li Deming, father and son, were also having a headache at this moment. They had originally thought that they could take advantage of this opportunity to seize Liangzhou and open up the Hexi Corridor. They could then use the huge defense line of the Qilian Mountains and the Yin Mountains of the Yellow River to create a safe living space for the Dangxiang. However, they did not expect that Wang Yue would intervene and directly disrupt their plan.
Now everyone knows that Li Deming contacted Tubo to besiege the Song Dynasty, so it seems that they only have one way to go. As for showing goodwill to the Song Dynasty, they have to wait until they have overcome this wave.
So, Li Deming hurriedly sent envoys to the Liao Kingdom, hoping to ask for a Liao princess for his son Li Yuanhao.
Wang Yue had expected this, because in history Li Yuanhao conquered Liangzhou and Ganzhou and opened up the Hexi Corridor, allowing them to obtain a large amount of land and also trade a large number of horses.
It was under such circumstances that the Liao people felt that Li Yuanhao was a talented person who could help them contain the Song Dynasty, and at the same time they also needed to appease him, so they married their own princess to him.
However, although Li Yuanhao had captured Liangzhou City, he was destroyed by Wang Yue before he could capture Ganzhou. He also lost Liangzhou, so his record was not that impressive.
Therefore, Li Deming not only sought marriage for his son, but also made a special offer to the Liao Kingdom to express his sincerity. Wang Yue certainly could not just sit there and watch, he also needed to add a booster to Beiliang, so he asked Bai Yutang to continue the land reform in Beiliang, and then confiscated the horses of the local nobles, selected some strong war horses from them, and then raised 5,000 war horses, and Lu Fang led the Beggar Gang disciples to Kaifeng, and sent a letter to ask the Song Dynasty to arrange officials to manage them.
Wang Yue did this because he was certain that the public would not send officials here. After all, the land reform he carried out here directly made the local situation very difficult.
If the imperial court sends people to manage these lands, what should be done with them?
If the land is taken back, the entire Liangzhou will immediately rebel. After all, if you want to take the land back from the people, you will of course fight them to the death. Liangzhou, which had finally secured security, will suddenly be in chaos.
But if it is not taken back, what will the people in other regions think? Will they also want to obtain land like Liangzhou? Then the landlords and gentry everywhere will not be able to sleep well.
In particular, the meeting of village heads set up by Wang Yue could often monitor the power of the county magistrate and effectively unite the local people, which would be of great help to Wang Yue.
But if the Song Dynasty sent officials there, it would be a huge obstacle.
After all, these officials have to decide whether to listen to the opinions of this meeting of village heads. If they don’t, they will inevitably rebel. If they do, then where is the dignity of the officials?
At the same time, no official dared to continue to implement the equal land tax promised by Wang Yue, which led to a vicious circle.
If it is carried out, it will also be like cutting oneself off from the world. If it is not carried out, the locals will immediately rebel and anyone who comes to Liangzhou to be an official will be extremely embarrassed.
Of course, Wang Yue made this plan just to become the lord of Beiliang.
In fact, Wang Yue was not doing this for himself, but targeting Li Deming and Li Yuanhao. He wanted to create the illusion of equal strength and at the same time provide war horses to the Song Dynasty so that the Song Dynasty could concentrate on recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.
While Lu Fang was still on his way to Kaifeng with his warhorse, Kaifeng City had already received the news, especially the war of Li Yuanhao's attack on Liangzhou City, which made the entire Song Dynasty court extremely angry.
It just so happened that a famine occurred in Jianghuai at this time, and the court really did not have the energy to use military force against Li Deming and his son. Therefore, the entire court was filled with anger, but there was nothing they could do.
Before they had time to get angry, new news suddenly came that Wang Yue, the principal of the academy in Zhuxian Town, had led the local Han people to kill the defenders left by Li Yuanhao and captured Liangzhou City.
Everyone in the court was overjoyed, especially Lu Yijian and Yan Shu, who kept praising the Empress Dowager and the Emperor for their good vision.
After all, if the Queen Mother and His Majesty did not have good vision, how could they have given Wang Yue such great honor?
As a result, things took a lot of twists and turns. They were happy for a short while before they heard another piece of news. In order to resist Li Yuanhao, Wang Yue actually held a grievance meeting in Liangzhou City to fight against the local tyrants and divide the land.
As a result, the entire court fell silent. After all, by doing this, Wang Yue was cutting himself off from the rest of the aristocratic class.
However, considering the situation at the time, everyone understood that Wang Yue was actually launching a sneak attack and had no ability to defend Liangzhou City. He had no choice but to do so.
Therefore, the current situation is that the imperial court may not be able to incorporate Liangzhou City into its own territory.
At this time, news came from the border that Wang Yue arranged for Lu Fang to bring 5000 horses and a memorial to the Queen Mother and His Majesty.
After an urgent discussion, the court felt that Liangzhou and the Hexi Corridor were located in a place where war broke out from all sides, and that this situation could no longer be changed.
Therefore, after the Emperor, the Empress Dowager and the ministers discussed it, the Privy Council of the imperial court made a decision to remove Li Deming from his title as King of Xiping and to enthrone Wang Yue as King of Beiliang and Jiedushi of Hexi, in charge of the Hexi Corridor.
The court did this entirely to prevent people from other places from having inappropriate thoughts.
After all, the issue of equal land tax is a domestic affair of Beiliang. As the most powerful country in the Central Plains, the Song Dynasty has no right to interfere.
After the Privy Council wrote the edict, it specifically asked the Eighth Prince to convey it. On the one hand, it was to continue to maintain the relationship with Wang Yue, and on the other hand, it was also to prepare for the Eighth Prince to visit the Hexi Corridor and take a look at the local situation.
Wang Yue also met the Eighth Prince in Xiliang City, which he renamed Beiliang City, and of course after the imperial edict.
So he immediately wrote a new edict and asked someone to send it to Lu Fang as quickly as possible.
(End of this chapter)