Emperor Shaolong banned the Dongchuan Road and handed over the defense of Shangzhou, and restricted the use of grain, fodder, and weapons to reinforce Shangzhou. On the one hand, he underestimated the strength of the Chihu people's offensive on the western front this winter, and on the other hand, he was afraid of Beijing.
After Xiang took over the defense of Shangzhou, his power continued to expand and he took the entire Eastern Qinling Mountains into his hands.
However, in front of Gu Jian and Gu Cong, Xu Huai had no intention of blaming Jingxiang's refusal to send troops to the court's suspicion.
"Whether it was whether to reinforce Shangzhou before or whether to defend Shangluo at this time, Jingxiang actually had a lot of hesitation and indecision: Shangluo was backed by mountains, and the post road connecting Wuguan was sandwiched between the mountains.
We are not afraid that we will be surrounded and cut off by the captured soldiers, but as Shangluo goes to the northwest, the Danjiang River Valley opens up, making it easier for the Chihu people to station heavy troops to contain us. This is what we don’t want to see,”
Xu Huai looked at Gu Cong and said calmly,
"It may be insufficient for Beijing and Xiang to take care of Ru and Cai at this time. They really do not have the ability to separate too many troops and horses in the East Qinling Mountains to engage in a protracted confrontation with the Chihu people..."
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The imperial court had a clear imperial edict before, prohibiting Dongchuan Road from transferring the defense of Shangzhou to Jingxiang. There was even strong opposition within Dongchuan Road. The main reason was that they did not want to see Jingxiang Road control the entire East Qinling area.
However, now that Lantian and Shangluo have fallen, Luonan, Lushi and other counties to the east of Shangluo are completely surrounded by the enemy and may fall to the enemy at any time.
Now in the entire Shangzhou, only Shangluo and Shanyang County to the west have not yet fallen. If Dongchuan Road does not hand over the defense line, it will be equivalent to purely defending the western front for Jingxiang Road.
It was inevitable that Gu Jian and Gu Cong would lead the remaining troops to completely withdraw from Shangluo and Shanyang counties, but even so, Xu Huai had no intention of sending troops to Shangluo.
At present, he is personally leading thousands of soldiers and horses here, mainly to cover the evacuation of the remnants of the Gu family and the people of Shangluo. Later, they will abandon Shangluo and shrink to Wuguan, sixty miles away, to build the first line of defense on the west flank of Beijing and Xiangzhou.
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After all, the Danjiang River Valley (Shang Yuyuan) directly opposite Shangluo City is a bit open.
Although Shangluo City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, if the Chihu people were to fill in the Shang Yuyuan with 20,000 to 30,000 elite troops and build a chain of strongholds to engage in a protracted long-term confrontation with Shangluo City, Jingxiang would definitely need to fill in a considerable number of elite troops.
, in order to ensure that Shangluo City is foolproof.
Including the troops that need to be invested in Jingzi, Xixia, Xichuan and other places, the entire west wing may need to invest nearly 30,000 standing guards to ensure safety.
This is something Beijing and Xiangxiang cannot afford at present.
Xu Huai decided to make a big move to the narrow and steep Wuguan line in front and back, and built Guancheng and Wuzhai on the Wuguan River and the surrounding mountains to form the first line of defense on the west wing.
Even if the enemy wanted to attack Wuguan, they would be limited by the narrow terrain of the canyon in front of Wuguan, making it impossible to deploy large-scale troops and engage in a long-term confrontation.
Beijing and Xiang only need to maintain a small number of standing guards on the west flank. More reserve troops can usually be dispersed to the widely built villages behind the defense line for normal farming, and wait for the enemy to attack from Shangluo City and other directions.
It is possible to assemble on a large scale, to call back when dispatched, and to fill in the defense lines in time.
In this way, the military investment of the production department in the west wing can be much lower, and more resources can be saved for the restoration of production in Beijing and Xiangzhou, the resettlement of hungry people, and the construction of defense lines in Rucai Prefecture.
The most fundamental reason for making such a decision was that Xu Huai judged that the military pressure Rucai and Caizhou would bear in the coming years would be far beyond imagination.
Whether it was in the many handwritten letters to Gu Jiqian, the envoy of Dongchuan Road, or when Gu Jian went to Biyang in person to ask for help, Xu Huai repeatedly reiterated his judgment on the situation, and even suggested that Dongchuan Road abandon Lantian and engage in business
Prefecture and other places, the defense line was shrunk to the depths of Ziwu Road, and the dangerous valleys of the Xiongshan Mountains deep in the East Qinling Mountains were used to contain the Chihu people's offensive. Many people on Dongchuan Road, including Gu Cong, were dissatisfied with this, and even felt that they were being despised and treated badly.
offend.
One of the important reasons is that in the Zhulu War Zone, the Jingxiang Production Department used the three prefectures of Ru, Cai, and Shen as the protruding part, and the enemy front line connected Funiu Mountain and the upper reaches of the Huaihe River, with a total length of seven to eight hundred miles. It also faced the west of Beijing, Heluo
Peeping view of two enemy troops.
In comparison, the protrusion of Dongchuan Road in the northern part of the East Qinling Mountains is only limited to the southern part of Hu County and Lantian County. It is backed by the deep mountains and ridges of the East Qinling Mountains, and the enemy front line is only more than a hundred miles away.
Xu Huai himself had no intention of abandoning the two states of Rucai and Rucai, but actually suggested that the Dongchuan Road should be abandoned in Hu County and Lantian, north of the East Qinling Mountains. What kind of military general with blood would be convinced and would not feel offended?
However, the bloody facts are before his eyes. At this time, apart from the bitterness in his heart, what else can Gu Cong say?
"The Hugouzi is chasing the refugees from behind!"
Xu Huai once again told Gu Jian, Gu Cong and others about the subsequent changes in the situation. This time Jiang Ang, who was accompanying him as an attendant military attache, suddenly shouted.
There are a large number of villages scattered in the Danjiang River Valley between the two cities of Shangluo and Shangluo, but most of the villagers did not expect that Shangluo would fall so quickly. Most people did not think of escaping hastily until Shangluo fell.
Hearing Jiang Ang cry out, everyone standing on the city wall looked across the clouds and saw the people and a small number of people who were fleeing to Shangluo City.
Behind the defeated troops, hundreds of cavalry soldiers came up to pursue them.
Everyone could even vaguely see the swords in their hands being swung out again and again, bringing out puffs of blood.
The screams brought the biting cold wind to the sky above Shangluo City, and it seemed like the Danjiang River was whimpering.
However, on the post road on the left bank of the Danjiang River, in addition to tens of thousands of fleeing people and defeated troops, there were also a large number of cattle, horses and livestock being taken on the road. There were oxcarts and horse-drawn carriages dragged apart in a hurry, blocking the post road.
It was the beginning of spring again at this time, and the permafrost melted in the afternoon, and the post road and the valley flats on both sides were trampled into mud by people and horses.
They lacked enough cavalry in Shangluo City and had no way to send troops and horses around thirty or forty miles away to intercept the captive soldiers and massacre the fleeing people. They could only watch everything happening in front of them in silence.
Gu Jian couldn't bear to watch the cavalry chasing the refugees outside the city. He turned sideways and asked Xu Huai in a hoarse voice:
"If the Western Front offensive of the Japanese soldiers is finally contained deep in the Qinling Mountains, hundreds of thousands of troops may be mobilized to attack Rucai and Rucai Prefectures this autumn. Can Rucai Prefectures be defended?"
"No matter how difficult it is, we will hold on!" Xu Huai said resolutely.
It would be best if the Gu family and Gao Junyang could hold on to Qizhou, Qinzhou, Lantian, Huxian and other places, and retain these protrusions directly facing the Guanzhong area.
In this way, in addition to being able to launch counterattacks at any time, it can also contain more enemy troops south of the Wei River.
The problem is that Gu and Gao Junyang still failed to manage the defense lines of these salients. In the end, they could not defend these salients, which was the cruel reality they had to face.
After the Jingxiang Road was established and merged into Nanyang, Xiangyang and the counties in northern Beijing, Rucai and others were located in the area north of the Nanling of Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain. It can also be said to be the protrusion of the Jingxiang Road in the Hehuai area.
When facing strong military pressure, Xu Huai could of course choose to temporarily abandon Rucai and other places and shrink the northern defense line to the Fangcheng Pass Valley between Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain.
In this case, the pressure on defense will naturally be greatly reduced.
However, in addition to giving up the Ru Cai area that they have worked hard for several years, Jingxiang and Dai Viet will also completely give up their strategic initiative and fall into a passive defensive situation.
The consequences of doing so are even more profound and bad than when the Zheng family gave up on Heluo.
At that time, even if the Chihu people are unable to attack Jingxiang from the Fangcheng pass, as long as they station heavy troops north of Fangcheng and block the counterattack route from Jingxiang to the north, they can completely shift the strategic focus to the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe River.
——Xu Huai has no confidence at all whether the imperial court can hold the defense line in the middle and lower reaches of the Huaihe River.
Jingxiang tried their best to defend Rucai, keep the defense line at Ruying line, and at the same time firmly control the upper reaches of the Huaihe River (Huaiyuan). No matter how bad it is, they can at least contain half of the Chihu people in the Hehuai area.
The soldiers and horses made it impossible for them to attack Shouchun and Chuzhou with all their strength.
Because of their special nature, the Gu family has always had a very high status in the court, but generations of descendants have stayed in a corner of the prefecture, which also limits their horizons.
However, after losing Huxian, Lantian, Shangluo and other cities one after another, Gu Jian, Gu Cong and others also had a clearer understanding of the upcoming situation.
They more clearly realized that if Western Qin, Dongchuan, Huaidong, and Huaixi could not effectively contain the Japanese troops from the east and west fronts, the pressure that Beijing and Xiangxiang would face in the two states of Rucai would be terrifying.
In this way, they could understand why Jingxiang was determined not to send troops to take over Shangzhou's defense.
In the final analysis, Jingxiang had a far clearer and more accurate judgment on the development of the situation than they did.
Gu Jian, Gu Cong and others did not say anything else. They had already handed over the defense of Shangluo and Wuguan. In the future, they decided to do everything without them.
After leaving, there are still too many things waiting for them in Jinzhou - the evacuation of the remnants of Dongchuan's troops and horses will be taken care of by the other generals left on Dongchuan Road, and there is no need for Gu Jian and Gu Cong to keep an eye on them step by step.
In Gu Jian, Gu Cong and others left Shangluo from the east city gate under the escort of a few guards. By dusk, most of the refugees had fled into the city. At this time, hundreds of captives also approached the city of Shangluo, and many refugees could only go north.
Facing and fleeing in the mountains to the east, Xu Huai ordered the city gates to be closed to prevent the soldiers from taking advantage of the chaos to seize the city.
Seeing that the captive soldiers had no intention of stopping in front of the city, they sent a small team of cavalry to go deep into the mountains to chase the refugees. Generals such as Jiang Ang, Wu Tiehai, and Shi Hu were extremely angry, shouting "Aoao" and wanted to lead their troops out of the city to fight.
However, Xu Huai reprimanded them repeatedly, forbidding them from acting rashly, and ordered Fan Zongqi, who was temporarily in charge of the defense of Shangluo, Wuguan and other places, to close the city gates tightly and strictly prohibit troops from leaving the city to fight.
Returning to the county government office to rest, there were still some people who insisted on calling for war. Xu Huai dismissed the generals who asked for war, and explained to Fan Zongqi, Wang Ju, Han Gui, Dong Cheng and others why the West Wing should resolutely avoid fighting, saying:
"Although the new Khan of Chihu came to the throne successfully, it is impossible for the new Khan to have no conflicts with the other three sect kings. This time the Chihu people launched such a fierce offensive on the western front, and their troops were mainly composed of the four sect kings, Kusi Gusuo
Next, the Royal Court of Chihu is likely to adjust Guanzhong to the control of Kusigu, the king of the four sects, which means that we will have a long-term confrontation with Kusigu, the king of the four sects, in Wuguan, Jingzi, and Xixia. We
Try to avoid war on the western front as much as possible, on the one hand to reduce unnecessary losses, on the other hand to show weakness to Kusugu's troops, which may produce many subtle changes in the future..."
"Yes, if King Wululie of the second sect tried his best, he could not break through our defense line from Rucai even if he died, and if Kusigu, the king of the fourth sect, could not find a chance to fight with us in the East Qinling Mountains, they would probably
Will it breed a lot of dissatisfaction and contempt?" Han Gyu said with a smile.
Leaving the defense lines of Shangluo and Wuguan to Fan Zongqi, Xu Huai planned to return to Biyang with Han Gui, Dong Cheng and others early the next morning.
If they didn't want the road to be blocked, they had to leave before the refugees and the remnants of Dongchuan's troops retreated eastward.
However, a secret letter was sent from Biyang to Shangluo in the middle of the night, bringing the latest news about the remnants of the Khitan in Taoyuan.
The messenger crossed Min Mountain and Qionglai Mountain and rushed to Biyang to deliver the message. They traveled for nearly two months. Xiao Yanhan, accompanied by Wu Sanrong, Xiao Xun, Zhang Xiongshan and others, led more than 8,000 horses to go south through Taoyuan. It has been two months.
