Chapter 267 Duke of Liang

Under the rule of Western Yan, whether it was Chengdu, Wancheng, Chang'an or Hefei, generally speaking, the New Year was celebrated in a relatively festive manner.

In comparison, the rule of Western Wei, Eastern Wei, and Eastern Yan was all lackluster.

In the past year, we suffered heavy casualties, and lost cities and territories.

Seeing that Western Yan was making rapid progress, it dominated Guanzhong in just a few years, spanning the five states of Liang, Yi, Yong, Jing and Yang, as well as parts of counties in Xuzhou and Yuzhou. It had a large population, vast territory, and strong military forces.

It seems that within a few years, the current Western Yan regime will be able to unify the world, and King Li Yuan of Tang is undoubtedly a hidden dragon.

At least, that's what most of the knowledgeable people under the rule of Western Yan thought.

If we have to say what the hidden worries of the Western Yan regime are, it is probably that Li Yuan, the actual controller, and his four legitimate sons are all too capable.

Although the Li family still had two sons spending the Spring Festival away from home this year, it still made some difference to Li Yuan whether the eldest son Li Xiaoyan was at home or not.

Li Yuan made no secret of his respect for Dalang. As soon as the New Year passed, Li Yuan appointed his eldest son Li Xiaoyan as Duke of Longxi, and concurrently appointed him as Chief Clerk of the Prime Minister's Office, Prefect of Jingzhao, Minister of the Central Secretariat, and General of the Guard.

Jingzhao Yin was the governor of the capital, Zhongshu Ling was a high-ranking official in the Zhongshu and one of the prime ministers.
Although he was not explicitly made the Crown Prince of Tang, Duke of Longxi was the title Li Yuan held before he was conferred the title of Duke of Tang.

Giving this title to Li Dalang, plus a string of official positions, sends a very clear signal.

Li Erlang, who is also in Chang'an, is the most prestigious general in the Western Yan army. His military exploits are undoubtedly the first. Although he commands a large number of troops and is even promoted to general, his title is only Duke of Dunhuang.

Li Sanlang, who also had great military achievements but was stationed in Wancheng, was named Duke of Wuwei.

Li Yuanhui, the fourth oldest and the most powerful vassal of Western Yan, had previously been conferred the title of Duke of Gu Zang, and this time he was promoted to Duke of Liang County.

Duke Gu Zang was a county duke, while Duke Liang was a county duke. Liang county was a large county and was located in Yuzhou, so this title also carried a signal.

Next, Li Yuan hoped that the fourth brother would make great achievements in the future, preferably to capture Yuzhou.

Of course, it's just giving you a target. It looks like a promotion, but it's actually a bit unfair to Lao Si.

After all, the fourth brother was already the Marquis of Ye County five or six years ago, and he was the first to be granted a title. The other brothers were granted titles for the first time, and they were directly granted the title of Duke of a County. And according to the fourth brother's achievements, it is not excessive to grant him the title of Duke of a State.

In addition, Sima Xiuye, the former governor of Jingzhou, can also be considered an investment because he defended the three counties and assisted the sons of the Li family in the war in Jingzhou.

After arriving in Chang'an, he was treated with courtesy by Li Yuan and became one of the prime ministers, Shangshu Zuo Pushe, and co-minister of the Secretariat.

Moreover, he went in and out of Li Yuan's Prime Minister's Mansion all day long, which was equivalent to entering the core power circle of Chang'an City.

The reason why Sima Xiuye ​​received such courtesy was partly because of his merits, partly because of his surrender of the city, and partly because of his personal relationship with Li Yuan.

On the other hand, it sends a political signal to the outside world that our Li family will not treat unfairly those who come to us for surrender.

Even Huang Niu Jiao, who surrendered in Wancheng and spoke out among the common people, was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the army and was under the command of Li Er.

After the Tuoba clan withdrew their troops from Hedong, Li Er returned to Chang'an and began to reorganize his army.

The number of troops under his command was about 50,000.

This included the Liangzhou Army of more than 22,000 people, with Hou Jun, Xue Renmei and Liu Zongxun as the general commanders.

A Turkic cavalry of more than 4,000 people, led by the general Zhishisili.

He personally led 3,000 black-armored cavalrymen, with Zhang Jin and Guo Xiaoke as deputy general managers.

Huang Niujiao was the commander-in-chief of the army and led a headquarters of more than 10,000 people.

As well as more than 10,000 elite soldiers selected from the surrendered soldiers. Li Er appointed Duan Shixiong and Yin Yao as the general managers to lead them respectively.

Among them, Yin Yao was an old subordinate of Li Yuan, but after entering Guanzhong, he often fought under Li Er.

Duan Shixiong was a good friend of Li Er whom he met in Chang'an. His father was Li Yuan's trusted aide, so he and Li Er had known each other since childhood.

He fought with Li Er in the Battle of Fuhan and the Battle of Taoxi, as well as in all the subsequent major battles. He was strict in military discipline, brave in combat, and famous for his bravery.

Handing over the elite surrendered soldiers to these two people is enough to illustrate their ability to command and train troops.

Among the more than 50,000 people under Li Er's command, more than half were cavalry. This was also due to the fact that Hexi and Longyou were both horse-producing areas, so the Western Yan regime currently had an advantage over all other forces. That was horses.

As soon as Li Yuanhui got in touch with Chang'an, he reported to the emperor and asked for horses.

Li Yuan naturally knew that the number of cavalry in Jianghuai was extremely small, and that was definitely enough to deal with the Jiangdong regime. However, if he launched a northern expedition to Yuzhou, a large-scale cavalry battle might occur.

The Jianghuai cavalry is less than 10,000 people, which is definitely not sufficient.

He had to be generous to his own son, so Li Yuan waved his hand and directly requisitioned two thousand military horses from the horse farms in Longyou, Hexi and Guanzhong. He also traded cloth, tea, iron pots and other supplies with the Qiang and Hu tribes in Longyou and the Di people in Wudu for two thousand horses to support Jianghuai.

Dou Guang brought these troops and horses to Jianghuai, along with more than a thousand guards and a team of cadres sent by Li Yuan.

With these military horses, Li Yuanhui was able to expand the number of cavalry to ten thousand.

Dou Guang arrived in Jianghuai on the 13th day of the first lunar month in the first year of Yining, and Li Yuanhui went to Shouchun in person to greet him.

The uncle was very happy to see his nephew and introduced him to some young talents he had brought with him.

Among them were descendants of the Jingzhao nobles Wei and Du, as well as the Xianbei nobles Yuwen, Dugu, and Duan, as well as Han aristocratic families such as the Taiyuan Wang, Fufeng Ma, and Hedong Xue.

After chatting and communicating, Li Yuanhui found that these people had one thing in common.

Most of them are the family's illegitimate children, or the second sons, youngest sons, and collateral sons.

Although there is no eldest son, these people are all talented and learned. This makes Li Yuanhui very satisfied. Because they are destined to have no chance to inherit the family business, title, or get the family's resources, compared to the eldest son, these people are probably the ones who are more motivated since childhood.

If you want to achieve something in your career, you will naturally focus on your own learning and progress.

For most families, it is safer to train the eldest son and more resources will be invested in him.

However, for the prosperity of the family, they will also focus on training other children, letting them study and practice martial arts, but what kind of achievements they can make generally depends on their personal luck and ability.

Most of them were legitimate sons who entered the court and took the civil service system, while other illegitimate and collateral sons chose to take the path of military commanders, because military affairs often had more opportunities to emerge.

Only pure military families would put all their eggs in one basket, because they don't have the energy to arrange for their children to be promoted in the civil service system.

Of course, this is not absolute, there are exceptions and other situations.

But overall, Li Yuanhui came to at least one conclusion based on the identities of these people.

Firstly, these people are not the key training targets of their respective clans, which means that these families will not support Li Yuanhui in certain struggles that may exist in the future.

It's not just him, but also my second and third brothers.

This includes the allocation of resources from his father, the patriarchal blessing of being the eldest son, and the connections and qualifications that his eldest brother has gained as the eldest son over the past twenty years.

(End of this chapter)