After a little rest, the team continued to march to the northwest, seven days later, the mighty baggage team finally arrived at Zhangye City, which lasted a month and two days, and the moment they saw Zhangye City, all the people cheered.

Wang Lianen, the governor of Ganzhou, has been transferred back to Chang'an and reappointed as the acting governor of Ganzhou, and the military and political affairs of Ganzhou are currently represented by Shi Panliao, the governor of the prefecture.

Hearing that reinforcements and the new governor had arrived, Pan Liao was overjoyed and took a group of officials out of the city to greet him.

Pan Liao is just a civilian official, but let him lead 8,000 Ganzhou troops and tens of thousands of Shatuo troops against each other, it is really a little difficult for him, after the beginning of the spring, he was afraid, for fear that the Shatuo army would go south, and the reinforcements and the commander finally arrived before the Shatuo people went south, which made him breathe a long sigh of relief, and also unloaded a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Pan Liao is of medium stature, fair-skinned, about forty years old, is a native of Jiangzhou, Hedong, a protégé of the Pei family, has served several county orders and a governor, and served as the governor of Ganzhou in the autumn of the previous year.

He led the officials to come forward to give Guo Song a salute, "See Guo Dudu!" ”

Guo Song stepped forward and hugged his fists and smiled: "It is my honor to work with you, I hope we can sincerely unite in the future to fight against the invasion of the Shatuo people!" ”

Guo Song had already learned some about the situation in Ganzhou in advance, and knew that the civil officials of the Ganzhou Governor's Mansion were under dual leadership, on the one hand, they were his subordinates, and on the other hand, they were also under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

At present, the highest official in Ganzhou is Changshi Pan Liao, who is the courteous official in front of him, and he smiled at Pan Liao again: "It's been hard for Pan Changshi this time!" ”

Pan Liao smiled bitterly, it can't be talked about hard work, it's just worrying about it, so that he can't sleep at night, fortunately, these will be a thing of the past, even if Ganzhou falls, he doesn't have to bear the main responsibility.

"We look at each other every day, and finally look forward to Guo Dudu and reinforcements, I can't help but be happy, I will introduce to Guo Dudu, this is Liu Sima, this is Zhang Lushi to join the army, this is Judge Yang, this is the army Cao Zuo joined the army......."

After Pan Liao introduced the civil officials one by one, and then introduced the military generals, a group of Zhonglang generals and Lang generals were already impatient, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute Guo Song, they were different from civil officials, their boss was only Guo Song, so they were obviously more enthusiastic about Guo Song.

Guo Song comforted everyone one by one, and he smiled at Pan Liao again: "How to arrange the military camp, there are more than a thousand family members of the army, and they have to trouble Pan Changshi to settle down." ”

Pan Liao nodded, "It's all arranged, there are ready-made ones in the barracks, Li Sima can bring them over, and the materials are also registered in the barracks." ”

Sima Liu Zi stepped forward and saluted, "Please command!" ”

Guo Song asked Yao Jin and Liang Wu to come forward to salute, and instructed the two of them to lead the army to the barracks to rest, and the baggage convoy also went to the barracks.

Zhang Qianyi was responsible for leading more than 1,000 family members to the county government, and the county government arranged a place to live after registration, and the army was responsible for providing the necessary food.

The baggage brigade and cavalry marched to the barracks, and more than 1,000 family members also followed the county officials into Zhangye City.

In the end, it was the arrangement of Guo Song's family.

Of course, he doesn't need to arrange, he should live in the governor's special official residence, located in the north of Zhangye City, directly opposite the governor's office, is a mansion covering an area of 30 acres, which was previously lived by the family of the former Ganzhou governor Wang Lianen, and now Guo Song lives with his family.

Under the leadership of Pan Liao, Guo Song's family brought more than 20 ox carts into the city, in addition to the servants, they also brought hundreds of cages and luggage, so to speak, except for the furniture that could not be brought, they brought everything else they could.

Of course, Guo Song didn't bring valuable treasures, like those screens, before leaving, they were all sent to the underground treasure house of the Treasure Pavilion for storage, he only brought some precious porcelain, for him, these are also daily necessities.

Guo Song is no stranger to Zhangye City, he has been here a few times, the prosperous business makes him remember deeply, but today's Zhangye City has surprised him, the whole city is deserted, depressed, few pedestrians, most of the shops are closed, the former prosperous business has disappeared.

"Pan Changshi, how did Zhang Yecheng become so deserted?" Guo Song couldn't help but ask.

Pan Liao smiled bitterly, "From last autumn to now, the population of the entire Ganzhou has plummeted by more than half, can it not be deserted?" ”

"Because the Shatuo army invaded south?"

Pan Liao nodded, "Everyone is afraid that Ganzhou will be captured by the Shatuo people and taken captive as slaves, and there have been three large-scale escapes, some people fled to Liangzhou, some people fled to Longyou, and those who can't escape have various reasons, not that they don't want to go." ”

Guo Song was a little dissatisfied and said: "The government should make it clear to the people that the Tang army can hold Zhangye City, as long as it lives in the city, there will be no danger." ”

Pan Liao sighed and said: "From last autumn to now, the Governor is the first person who thinks that we can hold Zhangye City, to be honest, everyone thinks that Zhangye City is impossible to hold. ”

Guo Song looked at the surrounding city walls and wondered: "The city wall is tall and strong, the moat is so wide outside, and there are nearly 10,000 soldiers, why do you think it can't hold it?" ”

"The governor doesn't know anything, the morale of the army is weak, the people's hearts are shaken, the soldiers are not trained, the generals gamble, drink, and visit brothels all day long, everyone has to get by, just wait for the Shatuo people to kill, and they are ready to abandon the city and flee."

"Nonsense!"

Guo Song said angrily: "Whoever has such an idea, I will be the first to kill him to correct military law." ”

"Governor, the problem is not with the soldiers, it is the sin created by the previous governor! I'll elaborate on that to the Governor when I have time. ”

"Don't wait for time to come, I'll settle my family first, and then I'll inspect the walls and defenses, and you'll tell me then."

Guo Song's face became more and more gloomy, and the situation in Ganzhou was even worse than he imagined.

.........

The former governor of Ganzhou, Wang Lianen, packed almost everything that could be taken away in the house, and even the radishes planted in the back garden did not forget to pull it out, but fortunately, the furniture was relatively heavy, and he couldn't take it, otherwise even the furniture would be moved, and it would be a big trouble.

The furniture in the house is very good, all are good nanmu and willow wood, the master room of the back house is made of precious red pine, the structure of the house is similar, the front and back three enters, there are two side yards, the side yard can only pass from the front yard, and there is no door in the atrium.

The back house covers an area of nearly 20 acres, composed of three large courtyards, there is a very beautiful large garden in the northwest corner, covering an area of about five acres, there are pavilions and pavilions inside, rockery ponds and fish are readily available, although the building is not as exquisite as the Chang'an Garden House, but the buildings are very heavy, the materials are sufficient, and it is very new, it can be seen that it has only been renovated for one or two years.

Everyone brought all kinds of bedding curtains, all kinds of kitchen utensils and daily necessities, and the insufficient things could be purchased in the city.

Xue Tao took a group of maids to unpack the cage and take out various items to decorate the house, while Steward Yang's wife took two cooks to buy vegetables on the street, and the grain, rice and mutton were ready-made, mainly because of the lack of fresh vegetables.

Guo Song didn't have anything to do, he told his wife, and rode to inspect the situation in the city, and at the same time check the city defense.

Changshi Pan Liao accompanied him to the city, the city wall was built very high and wide, three carriages can be paralleled on it, up to three zhang and three feet, and the outer moat is also as wide as three zhang, thanks to the previous governor Zhao Tengjiao, there was no moat, he led the Zhangye River water, dug this moat, the whole city circumference is as long as thirty-five miles, at its peak, the population in the city reached more than 200,000, but now it is less than 100,000.

Guo Song looked at the north with his hands in his hands, the north was a vast grassland, Pan Liao sighed and said: "It stands to reason that I shouldn't criticize a departing governor anymore, but Ganzhou has fallen into today's situation, and his responsibility is difficult to shirk." ”

Guo Song asked lightly: "I heard Zhang Guangsheng say in Liangzhou that the Ganzhou army had been defeated three times in three battles, could it be that the Ganzhou army still went out to fight fiercely with the Shatuo army?" ”

"The Governor is right! This is Wang Lianen's greatest responsibility, last summer, Shatuo's army did not rush to attack Ganzhou, but continued to increase troops to Suzhou, we all persuaded Wang Lianen to withdraw the 500 defenders captured by Qi Lian and defend Zhangye City, but he listened to the chest assurance of the Qi Lian guard, and the envoy was his brother-in-law Daniel Zhang.

Later, 5,000 Shatuo troops surrounded Qilian to defend and capture, Daniel Zhang was afraid, sent more than a dozen pigeon letters for help, Wang Lianen ignored our dissuasion, led 10,000 cavalry to rescue Qilian guard, he thought that 10,000 Tang troops could defeat 5,000 Shatuo people, where did he know that the Shatuo people were actually besieging the city for reinforcements, and the 20,000 cavalry were already eyeing the other side.

Shatuo's army cut off the back road of the Tang army, Wang Lianen was indecisive and refused to break through decisively, resulting in the Tang army's dry food being eaten up, and the army's heart began to waver, so he was forced to break through, and as a result, three breakthroughs failed, and the deputy governor was killed, and finally only more than 3,000 people successfully broke through and fled back to Zhangye City, and more than 7,000 people were wiped out. ”

It seems to be slightly different from what Zhao Tengjiao said, but the difference is not very big, Guo Song's brows have been wrinkled, "Wang Lianen's report to the imperial court is not like this, he said that 50,000 Shatuo cavalry suddenly attacked, he led the army out of the city to protect the people from being slaughtered, despite heavy casualties, he led the soldiers to fight to the death and did not retreat, until the last people entered the city, they withdrew to the city, which lost 7,000 soldiers, the Son of Heaven was moved by his loyalty, did not hold him responsible, and changed the title of Governor of Daizhou." ”

"Fuck the stinking fart!"

Pan Liao couldn't help but scold, "The soldiers were killed by him, more than 7,000 people, but there was no compensation, he was also promoted and made a fortune, it was the unfairness of the imperial court that the army's heart collapsed, the people's hearts were shaken, and no one was willing to defend the city anymore." ”

"Didn't you write to the court to denounce it?"

Pan Liao shook his head, "We are soft-spoken, unlike Wang Lianen who has a backstage, and soon after we got the news, the heavy snow came, and it was blocked for more than three months, until the snow melted, and when we heard that the governor was appointed to Ganzhou, we counted on the governor to uphold justice and revitalize the morale of the army." ”

Guo Song had a preliminary idea in his heart, and it was imperative that he revitalize the morale of the Ganzhou army, and the key to reviving the morale of the army was to let the soldiers see fairness and hope.