Chinese New Year

Chapter 608 Battle Report and Meeting

The Xianbei people were indeed very powerful.

When Shao Xun entered Anping, he heard that Xianbei cavalry appeared more than a hundred miles to the northeast.

Recently, Jinzheng has been retreating, and almost no Jin troops can be seen on the west bank of the Hengshui River. A large number of cavalry were withdrawn to Gaoyang, Hejian, and Zhangwu to protect the grain route while fighting with the Xianbei.

There is good news and there is bad news.

The good news is that after several rounds of fighting, the Xianbei people began to fight smartly and no longer fought head-on with the Jin army.

The bad news is that Qiao Hong, deputy governor of the Yicong Army, was killed in battle by the armored cavalry led by Duan Mobo, which was a complete rebellion against Tiangang.

This was the first general to be killed since the Northern Expedition this year, and the second cavalry general to be killed in two years.

The Yicong Army probably had the highest casualty rate among all the troops. They fought every year and were replenished every year. Although there were more people, their combat effectiveness was actually not as good as it was a few years ago.

Shao Xun promoted Jing, a powerful man from Xingyang, to become the deputy governor of the Yicong Army, replacing Qiao Hong.

He also appointed Juqu Chong, one of the former leaders of the Lushui Hu in Anding, as deputy governor.

This man has led 5,000 strong men of Guanxi Hu people from Zhongqiu and Bairen areas on a westward march, and is now stationed in the area around Nancheng of Heyang. Therefore, his position as deputy governor of the Yicong Army is just a nominal one, and he will have to wait until the end of this year's war to officially take up the post.

The Anping Huns who retreated from the Zhangwu area went to Changshan and came under the command of Li Chong to fill the gap left by the departure of the Guanxi Hu people.

The war in the Hanoi area has entered a critical stage.

In August, Shao Xun asked Wang Que'er to hold out for at least a month, and he had already held out for a month and a half.

Various troops took turns besieging Hanoi, and even the Left Silver Spear Camp had to attack twice, but they were unable to take Hanoi, so he was ready to retreat.

The Luoyang Central Army's cavalry, totaling more than 1,400 cavalrymen, were stationed in the central city of Heyang, together with Juqu Chong's 5,000 cavalrymen, under the command of Wang Que'er.

Now comes the most difficult stage: how to retreat safely?

If Wang Que'er could successfully complete the retreat from the enemy when the siege lasted for a long time and the soldiers were old and tired, he would be considered a great general.

The enemy not only has infantry, but also a large number of cavalry. Chasing them is no joke.

This situation is considered to be extremely difficult when retreating in front of the enemy.

After the Cavalry Army was transferred away, the imperial guards in the Xin'an direction only had infantry. Now the palace soldiers were temporarily acting as cavalry to help them block the Huns, which was certainly not as easy as before.

After more than two months of siege, the imperial army suffered heavy casualties and had breached the outer city of Xin'an.

Less than three thousand enemy soldiers retreated to the inner city and continued to resist stubbornly.

The reason for the stubborn resistance was that a large number of Xiongnu cavalry rushed out from the direction of Baichao City, escorting a detachment of infantry to reinforce Xin'an.

The palace soldiers and the imperial guards fought desperately to intercept them, but finally about a thousand people rushed into Xin'an City.

With the arrival of reinforcements, the morale of the defenders was slightly boosted, but the battle had to continue.

The fighting in Xuzhou was generally peaceful.

Xi Jian led his troops to besiege several strongholds on the north bank of the Huai River, but failed to capture them, so he decisively stopped this meaningless action.

Shao Xun had ordered Shi Le's surrendered troops to return, leaving only the Xiejie Army and the Zhongyi Army to garrison Xia Pi and Pengcheng.

The only battle going on in the Huaixi direction was in Yiyang.

At the end of September, Ji Zhan led the navy westward, cutting off the connection between Yiyang and Huaibei. Wang Dun took advantage of the situation to capture the entire Yiyang.

Some powerful families in Runan responded to Wang Dun, but were suppressed by Chen Yougen who led the conscripted peasant soldiers.

The two sides confronted each other with the Huai River as the boundary and basically did not move troops.

Le Kai led a large army to besiege Xiangyang, but failed and retreated - he was a little cunning and was not willing to waste his own strength.

At this point, Shao Xun had basically understood the goal of the Jiangdong regime: the area south of the Huai River belonged to Sima, and the area north of the Huai River belonged to Shao, with the river as the boundary between the two sides.

It should be said that they chose a very good time. While the main force of Henan was moving north, they seized Anfeng and Yiyang, two counties with very strong southern culture, and consolidated their own defense line.

Shao Xun had no time to take care of them now and could only acquiesce in their occupation in order to avoid fighting on both the north and south fronts at the same time.

Sima Rui appointed Gan Zhuo, the governor of Xiangzhou, as the governor of Jingbei, in charge of the two counties of Anfeng and Yiyang.

Zhou Fang returned to Jiangzhou to support Ji Zhan.

Wang Dun returned to Xiangyang.

The two sides tacitly agreed to stop fighting.

******
On October 8th, Hebei Province welcomed its first snow.

Shao Xun met the envoy sent by Zhu Shuo in Anping.

The messenger's name was Li Huai, and he was from Fanyang.

Li Huai's cousin Li Xingyi led some of his clansmen to cross the river south to Jianye.

The main body of Li Huaihe's family remained in Youzhou - this branch actually developed quite well. Historically, many of its members served as prefects, officials, governors, and generals in the Former Yan, Later Yan, and Northern Wei dynasties. Among them, Li Huaihe's sixth-generation grandson Li Daoyuan was the most famous. Therefore, the fate of an individual or a family is closely related to the background of the times.

A small noble family like the Li family could not make it in the south, but the members of the family who stayed in the Northern Dynasty took advantage of the situation and rose to a level far exceeding that of their southern cousins.

"I know Zhu Qiubo's intentions." After reading the letter, Shao Xun was not very interested in the content. It was nothing more than a flattery to show loyalty. Moreover, he showed his loyalty in private, leaving Zao Song, You Tong and others behind. He had a strong sense of competition.

He has seen too many people like this.

"Mr. Li, why don't you tell us in detail what has happened in Youzhou recently?" Shao Xun waved his hand and asked his personal soldiers to bring tea.

Liu Ye'na made some dairy snacks in the next room and was happy to serve them to Shao Xun, but when she heard that there were guests, she withheld them.

Don’t give it to others!
The voice from the next room rang again: "Lu, Xu, please contact various parties..."

Li Huai talked for a long time before he explained the details one by one.

After listening to this, Shao Xun smiled and said, "You are really eloquent. It feels like I am there in person."

After saying that, he tapped the table with his index finger and said, "Forget about being the governor of Youzhou. After defeating Liu Yao, I will take over the position of governor of Yanzhou. Youzhou is too far away after all."

"Yes." Li Huai heard it and thought to himself that it was just as he expected.

Cao Cao's example is there! He was the General of Chariots and Cavalry and the Governor of Jizhou. He must have set his sights on Yecheng at that time, right?

Cao Cao later built the Bafu in Yecheng in order to get rid of the influence of the Yingchuan gentry. Shao Xun built the Bafu in Junyi, Yanzhou, but he did not want to be too far away from the Yingchuan gentry. This is the biggest difference between the two.

However, Li Huai believed that Shao Xun would sooner or later become estranged from the Yingchuan gentry, just like Cao Cao.

When it comes to power, the more the nobles have, the less the monarch has.

Shao Xun's background was much lower than Cao Cao's. After all, he couldn't play with Yuan Shao since childhood like Meng De. He would only become more estranged from the Yingchuan gentry.

Can we really avoid the influence of Yingchuan people by going to Junyi? Not necessarily.

Lu Zhi tried his best to get Chen Gong to Hebei, but he might not have no chance. Yecheng did not need to be rebuilt, but only repaired, and everything was ready.

"Who do you think is the best candidate for the post of Governor of Youzhou or Commander-in-Chief?" Shao Xun asked.

"I am of low status and dare not discuss important matters." Li Huai replied.

Shao Xun smiled and said, "You can talk about it. What happened today will not be spread to the outside world."

Li Huai hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Excellency did not resort to violence when you took Youzhou. You gained it through the return of the people. Therefore, we should calm down everything and avoid another disturbance, which would be more trouble than gain."

Shao Xun hummed and did not respond directly.

Actually, what they said makes a lot of sense.

If you wantonly place your own people in positions of power, it will only make people dissatisfied, and they might even create some trouble for you, causing more trouble.

Of course, Li Huai also had selfish motives behind this statement.

After all, he came here on behalf of Zhu Shuo. Doesn't Zhu have any ideas? Doesn't he want to be the governor of Youzhou? Impossible.

But Zhu Shuo and Zao Song have such bad reputations. If they continue to be in charge of Youzhou, they will become complacent and will definitely not restrain themselves. Instead, they will become more and more aggressive and end up causing big trouble for him.

"I have heard that Liu Handan is a virtuous elder, and his students are all over Youzhou. The counties of Jicheng can recommend him as the governor of Youzhou." After thinking for a while, Shao Xun said, "You Tong has a good command of troops, so he should be appointed as the governor. When you return to Jicheng, you can tell everyone."

The tone was that of a negotiation, but it was actually an order.

The elders of Youzhou (the nobles and powerful families) should stop overthinking and jointly submit a memorial to the court to recommend Liu Han and You Tong.

Liu Han may not have much practical ability to handle government affairs, but as Shao Xun just said, he is a "virtuous elder" with a lot of disciples, so everyone is convinced by his appointment as governor.

You Tong was originally a Sima (Sima), had long experience in military affairs, had dealt with all parties, and had a reputation that was neither good nor bad. He could also handle the post of governor-general.

As for Zhu Shuo and Zao Song, Shao Xun had other arrangements for them.

"I will follow your orders." After hearing Shao Xun's words, Li Huai secretly felt sorry for Zhu Shuo, but at the same time he felt that it was reasonable.

Zhu Qiubo's reputation in Youzhou was too bad after all. Moreover, he had no ability to rebel, so Lord Chen could manipulate him however he wanted.

But then again, being able to keep the family business is already the best outcome.

If someone else entered Youzhou, such as Shi Le, Liu Yao, etc., they might kill Zhu Shuo to win the hearts of the people.

Thinking of this, Li Huai suddenly realized that Mr. Chen had not mentioned any arrangements for Zhu Shuo at all, which made him a little uneasy. After returning, he reminded Qiu Bo that he had not yet completely landed.

"I heard that Wang Pengzu had stored a million grains in Jicheng, but he refused to release them to help the people." Shao Xun asked again, "Is the grain still there?"

"Wang Jun imposed heavy taxes and levied heavy taxes. Two years later, the grain reserves increased instead of decreasing. There are now more than 1.5 million bushels." Li Huai said, "All of them are stored in Jicheng."

"With this food, I can do a lot." Shao Xun said happily.

Which direction should we go? Of course, we should go after the Huns!
After some thought, Shao Xun decided to send two of the shogunate's Zhonglang officers, Mao Bang and Liu Anzhi, to the north, one to take charge of civil affairs and the other to supervise military affairs, so as to mobilize the power of Youzhou as soon as possible.

(Brothers, vote quickly, there will be three more chapters today)
(End of this chapter)