Chapter 184 Fame in the Western Frontier
Although war was still going on in most parts of the world, the two Yan and two Wei were confronting each other.

But for the people of Jianghuai under Li Yuanhui's rule, life was pretty good and they could get by.

There were no wars or natural disasters, and taxes and corvee labor were all within affordable limits. There were even many people secretly sighing, wondering why their lives had become better now that the late emperor was dead.

Of course, I dare not say this openly.

But as for General Li who is in power now, most people are amazed at his youth. He is only in his teens and yet he has become the commander-in-chief. Doesn’t it seem that he has a good heart?
After all, the previous governors and generals didn’t care whether they starved to death or not.

The harvest from the military farms was very good. According to the previous agreement, 30% of the grain was allocated to Huainan County.

After all, the seeds and farm tools were provided by Huainan County. Otherwise, where would Li Yuanhui get them?
In terms of food, the Governor's Office was allocated about 200,000 dan of military food, which was enough for 50,000 troops to eat for half a year. After the autumn harvest, they still had to continue farming. There were two harvests a year in Jianghuai. That is, the current area of ​​military farms was enough to support the current 50,000 troops.

However, the area of ​​military farms still needs to be expanded, after all, the size of the army also needs to be expanded.

Chen Qiong, the captain of the Department of Agriculture who was in charge of the military farms, was directly promoted and was named the General of the Department of Agriculture. After all, he was actually in charge of a team of tens of thousands of people.

In addition to farming, the garrison troops also had to undergo military training, which was a bit like the reserve force. If the armies suffered a large number of casualties, they would select strong and capable men from the garrison camps.

The refugees in the Tuntian Camp had no objection to this arrangement because they had all received the food they deserved according to the agreement made during the spring plowing season.

These days, nothing is more important than food.

If people have nothing to eat, they will starve to death.

Even at the strategic level, food is the most important strategic material.

You can even remove one.

Whether as a time traveler or because of the family education he received since childhood, Li Yuanhui has a deep enough understanding of this issue.

So after the war was over and the list of rewards was finalized, they began to care about the autumn planting and grain storage.

After all, there are two seasons a year in the Jianghuai area. After this crop of wheat is harvested, the next crop will come soon.

And in ancient times, the storage of grain was particularly important.

Li Yuanhui inspected each warehouse one by one. After seeing that the bags of grain were stacked in piles and that there were no problems with temperature and humidity, he specifically instructed Zhang Fu, the chief clerk in charge of grain storage, to strictly prevent embezzlement.

It was not uncommon for the officials in charge of guarding the grain to secretly sell some of it. If the amount was too large to cover the cost of the war, the grain would simply be "lost".

Li Yuanhui would not tolerate any injustice. If anyone dared to cause trouble for him in terms of military supplies, he would be killed. This kind of thing must be stopped from the beginning. Draw a red line, and whoever crosses it will be killed.

If you want benefits, go get them elsewhere.

How did Guan Erye fail? It was because of the problems in the logistics department. The hole could not be filled up, so he started a fire, and then he could not explain himself, so he surrendered to the enemy and sold everything.
In addition to caring about logistical issues such as food and military equipment, the court also sent a reply letter, agreeing to Li Yuanhui's request and allocating war horses, equipment, armor, etc.

As a result, Li Yuanhui had to speed up the selection of personnel and expand the heavy cavalry.

As for the troops, the elite were selected from the four light cavalry battalions. As for the commander, Li Yuanhui thought about it and decided to let his cousin Li Xuandao take the position.

Heavy cavalry is a relatively professional type of soldier. For example, how to arrange the charge formation, how many miles to change horses after marching, and the daily training organization.

Neither Chang Yanheng, Zhang Jian, nor Zhang Zhen'e had any experience in commanding heavy cavalry.

My cousin Li Xuandao was already extremely brave and had previously served as a captain in the heavy cavalry of the central army. He was very familiar with the combat and training of heavy cavalry.

Therefore, the Tuqi Battalion was directly handed over to Li Xuandao.

It is worth mentioning that Liu Xuanji’s wife, Li Shisiniang, is Li Xuandao’s biological sister.

"Brother Fifteen, I'm leaving the Tuqi Battalion to you. You can pick any of the soldiers you want. The horses, armor, and weapons are all on the way and will be sent from Luoyang within a month."

Li Xuandao's appearance also inherited the fine traditions of the Li family. He has a handsome face, sharp eyebrows, bright eyes, and a strong body.

At the age of eighteen, he was two years older than Li Yuanhui and the fifteenth among the brothers in the clan, so Li Yuanhui called him the fifteenth brother. "Don't worry, Nineteen, I will definitely help you lead the Tuqi Battalion."

Li Xuandao and Li Yuanhui stood side by side on the parade ground of the Tuqi Battalion, watching the new riders who were training in horsemanship.

Li Xuandao, who had expressed his determination, glanced around and asked in a low voice, "I heard that Fourth Uncle and his men have also sent out troops?"

The news of the dispatch of troops from Shuzhong came from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and Li Yuanhui actually knew very little about it. After all, neither side could coordinate, but before the dispatch of troops, his third brother still wrote him a letter and sent his confidant to deliver it to Jianghuai via the Yangtze River.

So I know a little bit.

"Well, at the beginning of last month, they set out from Hanzhong with an army of 100,000 men, and they should be almost in Longyou by now."

"If Fourth Uncle and Ninth Brother can take Longyou this time, they will be able to get a glimpse of Guanzhong."

Having said this, the two brothers smiled at each other, and everything was said without words.

Both of them have the surname Li and are from the same clan. This blood relationship is very solid most of the time.

Especially doing something dangerous, such as rebellion.

On the other side, Qishan Road is thousands of miles away.

Li Yuan finally led an army of more than 60,000 people and tens of thousands of civilians to Longyou. Afterwards, he immediately appointed his third son Li Xuanqing as the left general, and ordered him to lead his own 3,000 flying troops and 6,000 Bandun Barbarian troops, 4,000 infantry troops of his nephew Wang Yi, and 4,000 cavalry troops of Qiang King Yang Wandi as the front, with light equipment and a few followers, to quickly support Murong Abao in the direction of Jieting.

Afterwards, he appointed his son-in-law Chai Rong as the right general, commanding 4,000 men from his own army, as well as 3,000 men each from Liu Sixing and Xu Shikai, and 3,000 cavalry from the Di leader Fu Fei, to rush to Longxi County to block the army from Liangzhou.

He led more than 20,000 men from his own army, as well as 3,000 cavalrymen under the Di leader Qiang Yong, and more than 6,000 powerful troops from Ba County, Shu County, Nanzhong and other places. The total army was 30,000, and they followed Li Sanlang, and their destination was also Jieting.

Before leaving, Li Yuan specifically instructed his son-in-law Chai Rong to keep calm and persuade Erlang not to act rashly.

If Erlang doesn't listen to your advice, don't mess with him and make sure to defend Longxi.

Didao and Guguan can be lost, but Xiangwu must be defended.

Li Yuan knew his sons quite well. Among his four legitimate sons, Erlang was the most decisive.

If they are short of troops, they should choose to hold their ground. Once reinforcements arrive, they will certainly take the initiative to attack.

However, he still underestimated the courage of his second son.

Whether there are reinforcements or not is not important to him at all.

When Chai Rong's reinforcements were just on the way and heading towards Longxi, Li Erfeng personally led 3,000 cavalry and took advantage of the fact that Xiao Juan's troops had just arrived at Guguan and had not yet established a firm foothold, and attacked them by surprise.

On the banks of the Tao River, he defeated the 20,000-strong Liangzhou army with only 3,000 cavalry.

Xiao Juan himself was carried away in a panic by his personal guards. Although the 20,000 Liangzhou troops were elite, they were a little tired after the long journey. They also felt that they had superior military strength and the enemy dared not leave the city to fight. Who would have thought that they would encounter the great god Li Erfeng?
Caught off guard, they were caught flat-footed and their men fled in all directions.

After achieving a complete victory, Li Erfeng did not stop, but divided his 3,000 elite cavalry into several teams, led by Zhang Jin, Dou Cong, Liu Zongxun and others, and took turns pursuing the enemy for hundreds of miles, all the way to the confluence of Taoshui and the Yellow River.

Because the Liangzhou army was being pursued so hotly by Li Er's cavalry, they never had a chance to reorganize and fight again, and many of them surrendered.

After the final statistics of the battle results, there were more than 20,000 soldiers in Liangzhou, more than 2,000 of whom were killed in the battle, more than 10,000 surrendered, and the rest fled in all directions.

Xiao Juan, the governor of Liangzhou and general of the Western Expedition, was lucky. Following the advice of his son Xiao Keyi, he did not choose to rush north, but fled westward under the protection of his personal guards, and finally escaped.

The rest, such as Xiping prefect Mu Changling, Jincheng prefect Wang Sengdi, Jiuquan prefect Wei Hua, Yingyang Langjiang Daxi Changru, and Hexi tyrant Dou Zhun were all captured alive.

From then on, Li Erlang's name became famous throughout the western frontier.

(End of this chapter)