Chastity Layman

In Diezhou under the snow peak, armies from all walks of life gathered.

Although tens of thousands were sent away to belong to Qiang Luo, Diezhou was just a border state with few people in the city. Qin Lang had previously burned fire and grass, fortified the walls and cleared the wilderness.

In Yacheng, Qin Qiong presided over a military meeting.

In addition to Qin Qiong and Qin Lang, Zhang Shigui, Su Dingfang, Tang Jian, Zheng Yuanxuan, Liu Cishi, etc., Liang Jianfang, Xi Junmai, Gao Kan, Gao Zhensheng and other generals were also there.

"It's time to retreat." Qin Qiong cut to the chase.

This is what Qin Lang and Qin Qiong had discussed in advance, and the battle is not bad for this sake, so let's accept it when it's good.

"I think why don't you take advantage of the victory to pursue, now that we have gathered more than 20,000 horsemen, why don't we go to Dangxiang Qiang's land, go to Jishi Mountain, and put down all those Dangxiang Qiang who don't accept my Tang Dynasty, and put down that rebellious man?" The rebellious Tuoba Chici was captured alive, and by the way, we can go to Tuyuhun and ask old Fu Yun why he is so arrogant?" Xi Junmai spoke.

Before the war, he was only a Captain Guoyi from Zhechong Mansion in Shuangliu, Yizhou. In the book of military merits, Xi Jun made two jumping merits, three vanguard merits, and many second and third ranks.

If these military merits are approved by the Ministry of War, the accumulated meritorious service may be promoted to a pillar of honor. Although an honorary officer is only an honorary title and has no office, it is very rare to obtain a high honor.

Tang Jian and Zheng Yuanxuan, the two princes of the state, sat there silently. They came here for nothing, and the credit is all these warriors. This trip was to recruit surrender, but nothing caught up. It has nothing to do with them to withdraw and fight.

Nothing to do, hang high.

Zhang Shigui is an important member of the military present here, and he also came from a family of officials. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the young and vigorous young master Zhang, who was also known for his bravery and prestige in the state, also rose up, pulled up a team, and soon took control of Guozhou. This is an important place in Henan, and it is at the hub of the three main roads in Guanzhong, East and Henan.

At that time, both Li Mi and Wang Shichong wanted to compete for him to join, but in the end Zhang Shigui felt that the two of them were not capable of success, and instead took the initiative to submit a table to join Li Yuan. At that time, Li Yuan was taking his son Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng to set up troops in Taiyuan and attack the empty Guanzhong.

Li Yuan was overjoyed by Zhang Shigui's voluntary surrender. He named him Doctor You Guanglu, continued to guard Guozhou, and contained Wang Shichong and Li Mi, while he continued to attack Guanzhong.

When Li Yuan proclaimed himself emperor, Zhang Shigui had already seized a large area of ​​land in the east of Tongguan under the banner of Li Yuan. At that time, he solved Li Yuan's worries when attacking Guanzhong. Zhang Shigui was the Duke of Xinye County, and then the overlord of the Western Qin Dynasty directed his soldiers to Chang'an. Li Yuan transferred Zhang Shigui to follow Qin Wang Li Shimin on the expedition. This was the first time he was included under Li Shimin's command. Li Shimin's performance made Li Shimin fancy.

At that time, Qin Qiong was still under Li Mi's command.

It's just that after the defeat of Qianshuiyuan, Zhang Shigui was transferred to Jiancheng's command, and it was not until the Central Plains War that Zhang Shigui was transferred to the Qin Palace again, but at that time Qin Qiong had become the number one general under Li Shimin's command, and Zhang Shigui was not as good as Qin Qiong. After the Central Plains War, in terms of merit, Qin Qiong was granted the title of Duke of Yi, and Zhang Shigui was granted the title of Duke of Guo.

After the Xuanwumen Incident, Zhang Shigui served as General Zuo Yulin and became the archery instructor of the emperor's Xuanwumen Lecture Hall.

This time to suppress the Qiang Rebellion, Qin Lang was the chief general of the Western Expedition appointed by the crown prince, and Zhang Shigui was the deputy general.

He was not as optimistic as Xi Jun bought them.

"Without food and grass, the army can't even stay in Diezhou, so how can we attack the party? I have established Situ's intention, so I can withdraw the troops first. I will talk about it when I am ready."

Qin Lang also nodded, "We know that burning grass is used against the party members, and the party members can also use this method to deal with us. We send troops without food and grass. Once we go deep into the enemy's territory and the party members burn grass, then we will be unable to advance or retreat, too. Too dangerous."

The generals in Liang Jianfang wanted to continue fighting. It was rare that they fought so happily and made so many contributions. Now that the Tang Dynasty has ruled the world, there are not many opportunities to make great achievements like this. Generals, you will never be able to catch up with Zhang Shigui and the upstart military veterans.

But Qin Qiong, Qin Lang, and Zhang Shigui, the three generals, all said that they would withdraw their troops, so they could only respond.

How to retreat is also simple.

Thousands of troops are temporarily stationed in Diezhou to guard the passage through the Qiangshui River Valley, while the rest of the troops will return by the same route.

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Under the city of Diezhou, beside the Qiangshui River.

In the Tang army camp of more than 20,000 people, the whole army was killing cattle and sheep.

The class teacher was about to come, and Qin Lang boldly ordered that the whole army be rewarded by slaughtering cattle and sheep, although Tang Jian suggested that these spoils should be brought back to the court, saying that the court is also in difficulty now.

But Qin Lang didn't like him.

It is true that the imperial court is difficult, but the brothers have also worked hard.

Those thin cattle, sheep and camels were all slaughtered, so that the brothers could have a hearty meal of meat and eat as much as they could.

Everyone can eat at least ten catties.

Of course, this meal won't be too much, and Qin Lang's seizures are still quite a lot.

The soldiers over there were enjoying themselves while slaughtering cattle and sheep, while Qin Lang was doing a final military merit check with a group of enlisted soldiers. Holding a gold seal in his hand, Qin Lang stamped the military merit sheets handed over by the soldiers.

"Take what's saved in our supply camp and take it out to honor military rewards. Keep 30% of the excess, and distribute the rest to the soldiers."

Old Inspector Liu was a little surprised, "Excluding the military achievements, the remaining 70% will be rewarded, which is quite a lot."

"That's what everyone deserves. Take out 20% of the 70% as pensions for the dead and disabled soldiers, and share the remaining 50% with the brothers."

The baggage camp was full of spoils of war, including gold, silver, jewelry, and silk cloth looted by the Qiang people, as well as war horses carried by the Qiang people themselves, riding cattle, sheep and camels, and livestock such as pigs and sheep they robbed.

Originally there were still many captive slaves, but now most of the captives have been returned. The captured Han people will return to their hometowns with the army. Some were originally Qiang slaves. Half of the land was handed over to Qin Qiong to take to Songzhou to settle down.

All the trophies such as gold, silver, cloth, cattle, sheep and livestock have all been priced.

And the military merits of all the soldiers have also been calculated.

There is a reference table for how many military merits you get in battle, how much you get in the middle and lower ranks, how much you get in the lower ranks, how much you beheaded at the first level, how many captives, how many horses you captured, how many cattle and sheep you captured, all have a reference table, and the soldiers have been busy for many days , calculate them all.

In the end, it will be converted into money, and then the seized materials will be rewarded accordingly.

The rest, except for the 10% reserved for the emperor, and the 20% for the court that have already been converted into gold, silver, jewelry and other easy-to-carry light goods, the rest must be distributed to the soldiers.

There were a total of tens of thousands of horses participating in this battle. Except for the unlucky five thousand Lizhou soldiers and horses of the samurai Xun, there were about 30,000 others, and the total was less than 40,000 horses. Most of them are native soldiers and volunteers, as well as some vassals near and near the city of Qiangdi.

However, when Qin Lang proposed rewards, he treated them equally, and the government soldiers were only able to accumulate meritorious service and award honors and ranks.

"Did all this money be distributed among the brothers?" Xi Junmai asked with a smile.

"I know that I stripped those Qiang people clean before, and I didn't even let go of their armor, rotten knives and skinny horses. Many people secretly said that I, Qin Lang, was greedy for money. I was greedy for money, but I would not forget the achievements of my brothers. I also awarded a reward before, and now I should honor it, I am not the kind of person who breaks promises."

On that day, after feasting on the cattle and sheep, Qin Lang summoned the soldiers and horses in the camp, announced to honor military rewards and distribute property, and everyone was elated and cheered endlessly.

The government soldiers and the village braves all shared a lot of good things, some of them also shared a few horses of silk cloth and some money, and some of them even shared cattle and sheep, and some even got a share of war horses.

Even those Qiang Di who were assisting in the battle received a lot of good things this time.

Carrying silk on his shoulders, holding money and silver in his waist, and holding cattle and sheep in his hands, this feeling is really not good.

The whole camp was in a mess, but everyone was very excited.

"Thank you for the reward, General!"

"After taking the reward, hurry home and reunite with your mother-in-law!"

On the same day, a group of people began to evacuate Diezhou and head south along the Qiang River.

Qin Qiong also left with the two vassal tribes of Balibu and Liang Mizhen, as well as his own Songzhou soldiers, and Qin Lang saw him off.

"I'll take care of the aftermath and go to Songzhou to see my master."

"Do you need to keep more soldiers and horses?"

Qin Lang only kept 3,000 men. His 3,000 men fought for a long time, and suffered more than 200 casualties. This time, he added 3,000 men, and his own 200 pro-army was also replenished. He will stay behind for a while. state.

"The party members don't have the guts to come again, and I won't stay here for long."

Since the imperial court originally only wanted to recruit the Xifeng Ministry and others, and had no intention of fighting to the end, so this battle is now coming to an end. Maybe after the fall, the party members may lead the Tuyuhun people to come back, but there is still It's been a while.

Qin Lang's 3,000 people will stay for another month at most. He has already asked the imperial court to build one or two Zhechong mansions in Diezhou, move the mansion soldiers, and even move the mansion soldiers' family members here to cultivate and garrison troops here. . Of course, it is also possible to increase the strength of the army, the city, and the border guards here, dispatching government soldiers to guard the frontier in turn, and also recruiting some of the attached Qiang Di as city soldiers to assist in guarding.

As long as the enemy is not attacking, it is difficult to supply many garrisons with Diezhou's population and food, and a large number will be a great burden.

Qin Qiong was thinking about Songzhou, so he had no choice but to pat his son on the shoulder. When he left, he bowed his head and said, "You did a good job this time, but you shouldn't be an illegitimate spoil in the end, especially if you only leave a little for the court, but you don't know what to do." Give yourself a lot."

"I'm just rewarding meritorious deeds. The soldiers got rewards in exchange for bloody battles. As for me, everyone shares them. I should treat them equally. If I, the chief general, don't take it, the brothers won't be happy about it either."

Qin Qiong shook her head, "You must know the consequences of doing this, and there will definitely be many censors who want to impeach you."

"I know, in fact, Zheng Yuanxuan has already written several memorials to impeach me, but it doesn't matter. If there is no mistake after making such a great contribution, the person in Luoyang Palace will probably have a headache again. Instead of letting him If you want to find a way to pick a thorn, it is better for me to take the initiative to give him some handles."

Qin Qiong had already guessed that his son probably had this thought, and could only shake his head helplessly after hearing this, "Don't go too far, I'm leaving, you take care of the affairs here, come to Songzhou if you have time, and return directly to me if you are not free. Chang’an! There are some things, don’t take them too seriously, forget them in the past!”