Chapter 211 Agreed
In June of the third year of Kaiping in Daliang, a dazzling new star in politics and military affairs rose slowly in Youzhou City, Hebei Province, and quickly spread throughout the world through Bianliang.

Xiao Yan, a surrendered man from the Former Tang Dynasty, pacified Hebei, conquered Youzhou, and defeated nearly 200,000 Yan bandits under Liu Rengong, the remaining bandits in Hebei, within just one and a half years. Then he marched out of the border non-stop, spending three months traveling thousands of miles and defeating the new Mobei king, Yelu Lage. He also built an altar on the bank of the Huangshui River near the Mobei royal court to offer sacrifices to the sky to announce his success, and made an alliance with the Mobei Queen Mother Shuliduo to make friends with Daliang. Therefore, the Daliang historian recorded this as "granting the Xilou town and letting his horses drink from the Huangshui River", as if he wanted to make it into a story of the Champion Marquis of the Han Dynasty.

Xiao Yan's military achievements are comparable to those of the founding generals of Daliang, such as Ge Congzhou and Yang Shihou. They should be the leaders of the founding generals, but they are all over fifty years old, some have gray hair, and some can no longer fight in the battle. Therefore, the name Xiao Yan should be regarded as the leader of the new generation of military generals of Daliang.

At this time in Daliang, Zhu Wen had killed a large number of veteran generals, and their successors had not yet taken over. Every year, they were defeated in turns by Li Cunxu, the deputy minister of the Jin State in Hedong, in Luzhou and other places. They were all experience packs. At this time, the veteran generals had died and their successors were no longer capable of taking on important tasks, but suddenly such a star general was born, and he had even defeated Li Cunxu. How could Zhu Wen not be happy?
So Xiao Yan had just presented the victory report, and the reward followed immediately.

However, it is worth mentioning that this so-called reward came with the officials of Bianliang after Xiao Yan quelled the rebellion of the Yan army, so there was no reward for the battle of Mobei, but just based on the battle of Hebei, Xiao Yan had been promoted all the way in the ranks of military officials. Not only was he a general of the imperial army, but he was also the governor of Songzhou. His salary and so on were paid in excess. In addition, he was only twenty years old, so there was basically no room for promotion for the time being.

Therefore, the Bianliang court could only find a way out among the civil officials. This time, when taking over the imperial edict, Xiao Yan had been suddenly promoted from the Palace Attendant Censor to the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, a true fifth-rank official. With the title of Jieshilang, he could enter and leave the palace and serve the emperor often, which was a noble and important position.

Moreover, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the original power to draft imperial edicts of the Zhongshu Sheren was taken away by his official title of Imperial Edict Drafter, and he had become a step in transfer. It was obvious that the emperor intended to choose a good opportunity to promote him up again. It was possible that in two years, Xiao Yan would be the Zhongshu Shilang and concurrently the Minister of the Zhongshu Menxia.

After all, although warriors are respected in this world, to get a high-ranking position as an advisor on confidential matters, one must at least pass the imperial examination or other means and have been in the officialdom for more than ten years, unless one is a founding member of the country. Xiao Yan has been in Liang for less than two years, and for a new official in his twenties, this position is already the highest possible.

However, even though the rewards were so generous, no one had any objections. Apart from his age, Xiao Yan was fully qualified to receive these rewards. For those who knew the inside story, they could obviously guess the key.

It was obvious that it was the Hades' faction that took action. After Li Zhen's death, the Hades' say in the court suddenly decreased a lot. Of course, he would not allow Xiao Yan to be promoted easily. He could only put on a fuss in front of Zhu Wen. However, the final result could only be like this. Xiao Yan's power was unstoppable. Even if someone wanted to blame him for Li Zhen's death, Zhu Wen could not resist the need for such a powerful general.

As for the Dark Emperor's faction, they may know how to cultivate their own followers and how to suppress their opponents, but they still underestimate the weight of the four words "united front value".

Zhu Wen needed Xiao Yan not only because he was a rare commander, but also because he could greatly enhance his reputation as a monarch, make the people of Daliang more convinced of him, and far overshadow the momentum of the Jin State.

You, Li Keyong, are just relying on having a good son. I used to have no one to beat, but now I have Xiao Yan, so am I still afraid of you? If you are smart, submit your surrender letter as soon as possible, and you can still keep your family rich. Otherwise, why not find a time to compete and see who is better, 'Ya Zi' or Guan Jun Hou!
According to the thoughts of this nearly sixty-year-old Zhu family emperor whose psychology has gradually become abnormal, it is nothing more than this. As the overlord of the Central Plains, Zhu Wen has always been troubled by two problems. One is whether the Li Tang royal family has been killed, and the other is the one-eyed dragon who sits on the Hedong Jin Kingdom.

Therefore, Xiao Yan's united front value had reached its highest point at this time, and Zhu Wen was not stingy in rewarding him handsomely.

For Zhu Wen himself, no matter how quickly Xiao Yan was promoted, he was just a person who could be manipulated at will. The time when the court was most wary of him was when the Yan army was at its peak and the news of Li Zhen's death was reported back to Bianliang. However, after Xiao Yan returned to Bianliang, he was already under Zhu Wen's nose. It was just a thought for him to crush this surrendered minister. It all depended on whether Xiao Yan could understand the situation.

After all, for Zhu Wen, even if Xiao Yan, a lone minister, was barely in the same faction with Zhu Youzhen, he had offended quite a few people and had no connection with any faction. If he wanted to keep his power, he could only cling to Zhu Wen's thigh. Otherwise, once the military power was relinquished after returning to Bianliang, if Zhu Wen did not use him, he would only be able to rise and fall in Bianliang, and would no longer be as powerful as he was in Yan.

Not to mention that the elite troops of Daliang were all in the Imperial Guards, and the Imperial Guards were only mobilized according to the emperor's order. Xiao Yan was a person without any foundation. Even if he became a local emperor in Hebei, he could only lie down honestly after returning to Beijing. If he was not honest, which of the founding emperors that Zhu Wen had killed in the past few years was not a powerful person? It was just a matter of an imperial decree.

That was why Zhu Wen followed Jing Xiang's advice and promoted Xiao Yan as a target. In order to reduce the power of the feudal lords in the future, Zhu Wen wanted to keep this lone minister firmly under his control and make him work for him wholeheartedly, so that he could fight against the military governors of various towns in Daliang who were unwilling to hand over their military power and let the Zhu family benefit.

On the other hand, if Xiao Yan disobeyed, he could also ask the military governors of various towns to suppress him. It was predictable that those military governors would be happy to do so. After all, Zhu Wen controlled the imperial guards, so it would not be a bad thing to let these big and small military leaders fight each other until they were bloody before cleaning up the mess.

With Jing Xiang's advice, Zhu Wen naturally felt confident to promote Xiao Yan. In addition, he also promoted the generals under Xiao Yan who had been reorganized into the Guide Army (Xiao Yan was the Jiedushi of the Guide Army). For example, Yu Zhong was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the infantry of the Guide Army, and was remotely appointed as the inspector of Haozhou, and was later promoted to Chengyilang.

Wang Yanzhang remained the commander of the Longxiang Army, and concurrently served as the commander-in-chief of the cavalry of the Guide Army, and remotely served as the governor and governor of Caizhou.

In addition to the two of them, Han Yanhui was also rewarded with a promotion. He was immediately promoted to the fifth rank of Chief Censor, and was appointed as a Hanlin scholar and concurrently as the Imperial Edict Editor.

Below Xiao Yan, all officers at all levels of the Guide Army were promoted successively. After the reorganization of the army, with nearly 20,000 soldiers and horses, except for the generals, all the officers of varying ranks were rewarded with 50 strings of cash, and the soldiers were rewarded with 20 strings of cash. It can be said that the court spent a lot of money.

After the imperial edict arrived and the army was assembled, chickens and sheep were immediately slaughtered in Youzhou City, and the three armies celebrated together. Even the people outside the city received wine and food as if it were a festival, and celebrated for three days in a row. After all, after receiving the order, the Guide Army would break camp and set off for Bianliang. It was probably unknown when such a celebration would occur in the future.

In this kind of celebration, as the most dazzling one, Xiao Yan is naturally the biggest protagonist. The generals of various military states and officials from various states sent by Bianliang are all vying to meet him. After all, no one is a fool. Although Xiao Yan is going back to Beijing and the court will send troops and officials to take over Hebei, the influence left by Xiao Yan will definitely not be easily overturned in the next few years. Of course, these Bianliang officials who have no foundation have to lick the great Marshal Xiao.

However, only a few people could achieve their goals. Apart from hosting a banquet to entertain the angel who came from Bianliang to convey the imperial edict, as well as the military supervisor Zhao Yan and the Inspector General Kang Huaiying, Xiao Yan basically never showed up in Youzhou City.

Among the officials who came from Bianliang, there were many high-ranking officials who were capable of becoming prefects. Of course, they were resentful of this, but due to the huge disparity in status, if Marshal Xiao really wanted to put on airs, he could show his displeasure to the prefect of Kaifeng even if he returned to Beijing, let alone in Hebei.

It was really because Xiao Yan was too busy to care about those officials who wanted to curry favor with him.

He was about to return to the capital, and although the Bianliang envoys who came and went were respectful to him, they also had some sense of surveillance in their hearts. What they were monitoring was naturally the Guide Army, which had already been reorganized. According to the organization, the Guide Army had 23 cavalry commanders and 13 infantry commanders. The number of cavalry reported to the court was 11,342, 6,438 infantry, and more than 14,000 war horses. However, due to more than a year of field battles, the military equipment and supplies were only enough to replenish 30% of the entire army. The loss was too great, and the court needed to replenish it.

In this regard, the Bianliang court was extremely generous, and with a wave of its hand, it actually ordered Xiao Yan to leave all these military equipment and supplies in Youzhou for use in the future to pacify the Yan area. The armor and military equipment needed by the Guide Army would all be replenished by the imperial guards after returning to Beijing.

After all, compared with these, the surprise brought by these more than 10,000 cavalry to the Bianliang court was too great. The Central Plains Cavalry was a well-known fact, not to mention that Li Keyong and Liu Rengong had secretly joined forces to try their best to prevent the construction of Daliang's cavalry, such as the purchase of war horses, etc., so Daliang was the leader in the world in infantry. Thinking that the imperial army, which was short of cavalry, could finally be supplemented with such a group of cavalry who were skilled in field combat and had experienced hundreds of battles, Zhu Wen would probably wake up with a smile in his dreams.

However, what Zhu Wen did not know was that before these Bianliang envoys came, Xiao Yan had already made a huge false account. Not only did he seize all the 3,000 heavy cavalry that were put together, but also most of Dingbadu's brave cavalry, about 2,000 or so, which were also seized. Even more brave infantry from the Yichang Army and the Lulong Army were seized, totaling about 8,000. The military equipment had also been seized long ago. The reason why only 30% of the number was reported was because the other 40% had been used to equip this batch of troops.

In addition, the seized food, fodder, military supplies, etc. were incalculable. If asked, they were all combat losses. Even the pots, pans, tents and other items were too lazy to be taken back to Zhu Wen. What's more, the Bianliang officials who came to check the objects dared not ask more questions. If they wanted to know more, they could only go through the military inspector Zhao Yan, but the latter knew almost nothing about anything. It was useless to ask questions for a military inspector like this.

For them, it would be fine for Marshal Xiao to give up some money, as long as the troops were fully staffed.

However, the detained soldiers were all men from Yan, and their loyalty to Xiao Yan was to the point of death. It was a great thing for them to stay, not to mention that all the equipment of tens of thousands of people was used to equip them. The armor rate had even reached a terrifying 90%. Without anyone revealing it, such tens of thousands of soldiers disappeared from the accounts, and they could even receive a pension from the Bianliang court.

However, apart from these original Yan men, what surprised Xiao Yan was that most of the hundreds of Longxiang Army soldiers who had been following him into battle were actually willing to stay in Yuyang or Yingzhou.

Of course Xiao Yan accepted all these people. He tried to find ways to bring in families for those who had them, and found wives for those who didn't. The war in Hebei had lasted for more than a year, and there were countless widows who had lost their husbands, or even women who were the only one left in their families. Xiao Yan specially asked Han Yanhui to organize a blind date meeting, where those who were attracted to each other could get together and could also get an extra 100 acres of land.

Therefore, compared to these Longxiang Army soldiers, they are happier staying in Hebei. Of course, there is nothing wrong with working for the Zhu family in the Imperial Army, but becoming Marshal Xiao's private army will give them a wider world.

It must have been a bit overwhelming for Xiao Yan to handle these fake accounts, but Feng Dao and Han Yanhui worked together to do it perfectly. Not only could no problems be seen on the accounts, but they also secretly took a lot of money from the Bianliang court. From now on, they would have to rely on the court's military pay. After all, with such a strong army of more than 10,000 people in Yan, there was no need to set up any garrisons. Therefore, the number of soldiers reported by various military states was just the quota of Xiao Yan's private army, and each state only received one sum.

However, Xiao Yan was very busy these past two days, not entirely because of this matter. Han Yanhui and Feng Dao had done a very good job in detaining people and establishing a private army. The court was happy, and they were happy too. It was the best of both worlds, and it was nothing more than fooling the court envoys.

He also met with Wanyan Agunai and Wanyan Hanpu. The Jurchen cavalry under their command were very fierce and could charge into the battle without armor. Although there were only about a thousand of them now, they were enough for Xiao Yan to take seriously.

As for taking care of these two people, Xiao Yan originally planned to leave them all in Hebei, but after careful consideration, he decided to take two hundred riders back to the Central Plains.

Wanyan Hanpu stayed in Yuyang and was allowed to settle some Jurchen people in Liaodong, but they needed to obey the orders of Tian Daocheng and Feng Dao, farm, be registered, and pay taxes.

As for Wanyan Agunai, Xiao Yan saw it very clearly. This guy valued the future of the Jurchens more than anything else. He was more concerned about the overall situation than Wanyan Hanpu and would not easily betray them. So he took him and two hundred Jurchen cavalry back to the Central Plains to receive the military pay of the Guide Army, but did not join the Imperial Guards. Instead, they were dispersed in Caozhou to await arrangements.

For the combined army of Jurchen cavalry and part of Mobei Army, Xiao Yan set up a separate army called "Yeluohe". It was the Khan's personal army and only obeyed the Khan's orders. In return for their willingness to die, Xiao Yan promised to destroy Bohai and settle the Jurchens in the future.

However, after several years of being registered as a common people and fighting for Marshal Xiao, only God knows how many female immortals are willing to go to Bohai to establish a country.

After everything was settled, the Guide Army immediately set out on the journey back to Bianliang.

And Xiao Yan will also return to Central Plains in a year and a half to start his own trend.

……

On the same day, the Sword Pavilion in Qingcheng Mountain, thousands of miles away, welcomed a guest with a painted face.

He was received by an elegant and serious middle-aged man.

"Heavenly Sin Star Mirror Heart Demon, I am here to meet you on the orders of the Marshal—

Tian Lixing, Yang Shuzi. "

(End of this chapter)