"There is indeed insufficient strategic depth from Huaishang to Xiangyang, but the captive soldiers have just withdrawn from Huaishang. The soldiers and civilians in Xiangyang were inspired by this, and their hearts were excited. There were many people who volunteered to join the army. Even if the princes in the court were timid, they were afraid of the enemy.
If you are wary, you should not be eager to discuss moving south."
Jin Longquan frowned and said,
"I have also paid attention to the Xiangyang officials before. The family members are discussing this matter quite urgently, which is a bit unusual, but I didn't expect that the Zheng family was vigorously promoting it behind the scenes..."
In his early years, Jin Longquan was only a figure in Tongbai Mountain. He dealt with officials and officials, and he could be regarded as seeing the impermanence and dangers of the world, but he could not be called a momentary hero.
Even though he decided to encourage Tang Tiande to join Chushan and secretly work for Chushan, Jin Longquan was more impressed by the skills of Xu Huai and everyone in Tongbaishan.
However, after that, the large amount of information that Jin Longquan came into contact with through Chushan, as well as the many principles that Chushan followed in his actions, actually far exceeded the common level of the world.
And these are the fundamental reasons why Chushan has stood firm and overcome all odds over the years.
Since Jin Longquan was convinced of the skills of Xu Huai and everyone in Tongbai Mountain, when he had the opportunity to come into contact with the real secrets behind all this, his horizons naturally opened up and his thoughts entered a higher level.
Jin Longquan lurks beside Jin Zhuangcheng, and has a more direct and real sense of the many undercurrents in Xiangyang City than Zheng Tu and the others.
Zheng Tu contacted the imperial court on behalf of Chushan in Xiangyang. Any imperial edicts issued by the imperial court and any memorials Xu Huai had in Chushan were passed on through his hands. Zheng Tu had access to a large number of officials in Xiangyang, but either
If you have a good relationship with Chu Shan, you may be wary of Chu Shan. On the contrary, you are involved in some things and cannot understand clearly.
Before Shi Zhen came to Xiangyang, Jin Longquan noticed that at this time, it was unusual for aristocratic families to talk about moving south. After Zhao Fan came to visit Jin Zhuangcheng and said this, he couldn't wait to find an opportunity to come over and contact him.
Zheng Tu didn't expect Shi Zhen to be in Xiangyang at this time.
Now that the Zheng family has been found to be the ones who have done the most to muddy the waters behind the whole incident, it is not difficult to analyze their motives.
Zheng Huaizhong supported Emperor Jianji because he was just speculating on the situation.
When they first chose to guard Heluo, the Zheng family also thought that the Chihu people would attack Shaanxi first. Seeing that the mountains and rivers of Heluo were in the most complete condition, they couldn't wait to take Luoyang and the four towns outside Xiangcheng, including Luoyang and Guankou City, under their control.
, for fear that others would get involved in Heluo and get a piece of the pie.
Zheng Huaizhong never thought that the Red Husbands were the most determined to attack Heluo. They attacked Pinglu and attacked Gongxian from Xingyang and Hulao to the west. The Yan division lasted for more than a year and suffered numerous casualties but they still refused to retreat.
Zheng Huaizhong had to ask for help from Xiangyang years ago and mobilized Yang Lin's troops to help defend Yanshi and Gongxian. However, his direct troops still had to fight closely with Cao Shixiong's subordinate troops in Pinglu.
Chushan defended Huangyangzhai, Shimenling and Chushan City. It did not limit the battlefield to the attack and defense of Chushan City. It even controlled the choice of the battlefield from beginning to end, forcing Yue Hailou to enter terrain that was favorable to Chushan to fight a war of attrition.
In the Battle of Huangyangzhai, they occupied a favorable terrain, used much more sophisticated armor and weapons than the enemy, used a tighter formation, and more well-trained elite soldiers. After more than a month of attrition operations, they killed
More than 15,000 Yue Hailou generals were injured, but the price paid by Chushan was less than one-tenth of the enemy's army.
Any injuries or injuries were quickly replaced, which made the second team more confident and more effective as they fought. Finally, Yue Hailou had to give up his dream of storming Huangyangzhai.
In contrast, Zheng's defense of Pinglu paid a much heavier price.
The Zheng family's defense of Pinglu was purely based on the city and relied too much on the defense of the city wall. The defenders lacked the awareness to create depth and attack depth. This made Cao Shixiong and Meng Ping surrender their generals and build forts directly to the foot of Pinglu City.
Dozens of trebuchets were set up close to the city wall, and they were bombarded day and night.
In more than a year, Pinglu City has long been changed beyond recognition. Even at this time, the defenders are still tenaciously guarding the dilapidated Pinglu City, but how can there be less casualties?
Although Zheng Huaizhong said that after guarding Heluo, his troops, including the Luoyang Prefecture Army, which was a local Xiang army, once expanded to more than 80,000 troops, the real elite combat power of his direct lineage was actually very limited.
The Battle of Pinglu was so brutal that it could not be defended without the direct troops and horses. But with the direct troops and horses, the casualties were so heavy. Why was Zheng Huaizhong not heartbroken?
Why isn't he worried? Once all his direct troops are lost, will his position in Dai Viet be guaranteed?
In the final analysis, Zheng Huaizhong was afraid and no longer wanted to defend Heluo.
Xu Huai had already made suggestions to Emperor Jianji. If Heluo and Shaanxi could not be defended, Gao Junyang and Gu Jiqian should withdraw and defend the Qinling Mountains. They would rely on the steep terrain on the northern slope of the Qinling Mountains and the continuous flow of supplies, troops and horses from the four routes of the Chuanxia Gorge.
support, suppressing the captive troops on the Wei River line, and entering a stalemate stage; while Zheng Huaizhong's troops were supposed to withdraw to the Xiong'er Mountain, Funiu Mountain, and Xiangyang south of Luoyang, they tried every means to open up the passage across Funiu Mountain from Nanyang to support Zheng Huaizhong's troops and persist
Entering into a stalemate with the soldiers in the hills south of Luoyang.
In fact, this is consistent with the strategy of Chushan relying on Jinghu Lake and Xiangyang guarding Tongbai Mountain.
This is also the fundamental reason why Xu Huai insisted that Emperor Jian should have the ambition to burn all boats and stay in Xiangyang.
Only in this way, in addition to motivating the soldiers on the front line to fight bloody battles, the most important thing is to ensure that the materials and energy of men and horses in the hinterland of Jianghuai and Jinghu are continuously transported to Tongbai Mountain, Funiu Mountain, Xiong'er Mountain and Qinling Mountains.
This is also the best defense line for Dai Viet to keep its troops outside the Jianghuai River, and the most difficult for the troops to break through.
It is a pity that Zheng Huaizhong did not object to Xu Huai's previous suggestions. He felt that with 80,000 troops, he would not be reduced to this stage. But when he realized that the situation had developed to this point, he was unwilling to act like a copycat soldier.
Like a horse, guard these poor mountains and valleys.
However, the emperor did not move south, let alone Jian to succeed the emperor. It is impossible for Zhou He, Gao Chunnian, Wu Wenche, Gu Fan and others to miss their old friendship and allow Zheng Huaizhong to retreat to Nanyang or Xiangyang with tens of thousands of troops.
Isn’t this inciting Zheng Huaizhong to coerce the emperor to rule the world?
Therefore, Zheng Huaizhong did not want to be reduced to guarding poor mountains such as Xiong'er Mountain and Funiu Mountain, and he did not want to hand over military power. Only Emperor Jianji and hundreds of officials went south to free up space for him to lead his army to retreat south.
However, Shi Zhen felt even more headache when he realized that the Zheng family was behind the whole incident.
Heluo is an indispensable part of the strategy proposed by Xu Huai.
Without Zheng Huaizhong, Yang Lin could contain more than 20,000 people in Heluo
The red cavalry, Xiao Qian, and Cao Shixiong's troops totaled more than 100,000 surrendered troops. All of these troops and horses will be transferred to Ru and Ying immediately.
By then, even if Chushan can barely hold the defense line in the central and eastern parts of Huaishang, can Liu Yan, Deng Gui and other troops hold the gap south to Nanyang between Tongbai Mountain and Funiu Mountain such as Wuyang and Fangcheng?
Even though they had an insight into the Zheng family's intentions, this matter was extremely difficult to handle.
Even if he went to Emperor Jianji to expose the Zheng family's conspiracy, Emperor Jianji would probably not punish the Zheng family at all, and might even compromise with the Zheng family.
Zheng Huaizhong also has 70,000 to 80,000 troops and horses in his hands. This is actually a double-edged sword for Dai Viet. If used well, it can be a sharp blade to resist foreign aggression. If used improperly, it may turn around and stab the already bruised Dai Viet.
few times.
The Zheng family holds a high and powerful position in Dayue, and is currently established as a loyal and loyal person in Dayue. Therefore, they are very dedicated to guarding Heluo, and therefore they will also make such a plan, and do not want to directly threaten Xiangyang for the time being.
However, if the Zheng family is desperate one day, or feels that there is no future in Dai Viet, will Emperor Jianji really dare to test the integrity of the Zheng family?
Shi Zhen felt a headache.
Before you have a bottom line and lack absolute strength, you will often have fewer choices and be more constrained than those without a bottom line.
Shi Zhen couldn't help but think that when Zhao Fan came to Luoyang this time, he dared to move around secretly. He had even conspired with Zhou He, Gao Chunnian and others many times before to move south. In addition to using the ministers in the Xiangyang court to fear the enemy, Zhao Fan
In addition to being timid, they probably also expected that even if their intentions were discovered and exposed, it would not harm the Zheng family, right?
This matter really puts people in a dilemma.
However, such a big matter involves extremely sensitive matters. Even if Shi Zhen thinks of countermeasures now, he will first go back to Chushan to inform Xu Huai before he can take targeted actions.
After understanding the subtle mentality of the officials in Xiangyang, Shi Zhen took Jin Longquan back to the Jin Mansion first, so as not to stay out for too long and expose his flaws to Jin Zhuangcheng.
The existence of Jinlongquan was very important for them to understand the trends of Xiangyang officials and Nanyang Township gentry.
Just like today, Jin Zhuangcheng never showed any inclination in front of Zhao Fan, but Zhao Fan dared to visit Jin Zhuangcheng to lobby him, or he intended to bury something in Jin Zhuangcheng's heart, because he expected the gentry family of Nanyang Township
, even if it is a clan with a big surname that came out of Tongbai Mountain, it is also wrong with Chushan.
When Jin Longquan stood up to say goodbye, he added: "The meaning behind Zhao Fan's words seems to be that he intends to stir up trouble with the marriage between the Marquis and Princess Yingyun. This matter is not a trivial matter!"
Shi Zhen nodded bitterly, indicating that he had not noticed this, and that he also knew how subtle it would be if someone who cared about it made a fuss about it, but some things just couldn't be solved satisfactorily.
"Isn't Miss Xuan a perfect match for the Marquis? How come it has been so long and no one has mentioned it?" Zheng Tu interjected and asked.
"Why didn't you mention it?" Shi Zhen asked.
"If you don't even mention it, why am I talking so much?" Zheng Tu said, spreading his hands.
"If you want to mention it, someone has already mentioned it; if no one mentioned it, there must be a reason!" Shi Zhen sighed slightly, "In short, no matter how troublesome some things are, they are nothing compared to tens of thousands of soldiers pressing down on the territory, let's see...
