Anlu is located in the north of the Yangtze River. It is an important area for east-west communication in the Yangtze River Basin. It is also the leading majestic city Dayi east of the Han River and the seat of the Nanliang Sizhou Prefecture.
At the beginning of the year, Jiankang Taicheng was captured by Hou Jing's rebels. Liu Zhongli, as the commander of Qinwang's coalition forces, failed to fight the enemy. After Hou Jing entered Taicheng, he even surrendered, which was a huge disappointment.
Afterwards, although Liu Zhongli was released by Hou Jing, most of his elite troops from Yong and Si states were left in Jiankang City, and only a few confidants followed him back west.
His own power had been greatly reduced. Although Liu Zhongli was reinstated by Hou Jingguan, he knew that this puppet official in the imperial court was probably not enough to deter the powerful people in Suizhou and make them bow to him as before.
Therefore, after returning to the west, Liu Zhongli did not go straight back to Anlu Prefecture to govern, but first went upstream to Jiangling to pay a visit to Xiao Yi, the king of eastern Hunan.
After the Second Palace was in power, all the towns and cities in the world were in charge of their own affairs. Jingzhou, controlled by the King of Xiangdong, was the strongest party between Jiang and Han, and he himself was also the most prestigious among the clans. If he could be accepted by the King of Xiangdong,
and endorsement can greatly compensate for Liu Zhongli's loss of popularity in Jiankang.
The fact is exactly as Liu Zhongli expected. Although he worked hard for the king but failed and lost his teacher and humiliated the country, the King of Xiangdong did not blame him much in order to expand his strength and influence, but treated him with courtesy.
However, what Liu Zhongli didn't expect was that the King of Eastern Hunan turned around and appointed him as the governor of Yongzhou, asking him to deal with Xiao Qing, the Yueyang King of Xiangyang. This prince, who was originally the friendliest to the prince, now openly usurped the authority of the Second Palace.
, and regardless of the moral relationship of the Zong family, he unabashedly pointed the finger at his nephew, not caring about Hou Jing who was stealing the government affairs.
Although Liu Zhongli himself was an expert in appeasing and supporting adulterers and doing nothing, he could not help but secretly sigh at the performance of King Xiangdong.
Originally, he did not think this was a problem. The Yueyang King was young and could not convince the masses. In addition, the Liu family in Hedong was originally from a wealthy Xiangyang family, and Liu Zhongli was also a famous Yong Mansion hero in Jianghan. After getting the title of King of Eastern Hunan,
With the support and funding, it is not difficult to replace King Yueyang.
But when he really got to know it, he realized that this matter was still quite difficult. Compared with the King of Eastern Hunan, who was at war with his roommate, King Yueyang was a junior, but he had gone further. He had already been connected with the people of Mianbei in the Western Wei Dynasty.
, and now the governor of Jingzhou in the Western Wei Dynasty has even more openly built a city and garrisoned troops to coordinate the defense of Xiangyang. With such strong foreign aid, the King of Yueyang dared to make an enemy of the King of Eastern Hunan.
Normally, Liu Zhongli would not take this seriously.
When Li Boshan, the governor of Jingzhou in the Western Wei Dynasty, came to the town, he was still sitting in Anlu, Sizhou, and knew a little about him. He was a son of a famous family promoted by He Basheng, Duguxin and other people in the town, but even He Basheng was
Since his men were defeated, it was natural that Li Boshan would not make Liu Zhongli afraid.
But now Liu Zhongli is in a state of decline, and is no longer as strong as before. He cannot turn a blind eye to the collusion between Yong Mansion and Jingzhen in the Western Wei Dynasty. He must be cautious in dealing with it and not dare to become an enemy rashly.
So he first asked the King of Eastern Hunan to temporarily lend some of his armored soldiers on the pretext of reorganizing his forces, so that he could return to Suilu to recruit people from his hometown. After reorganizing his troops, he then attacked Xiangyang.
The King of Xiangdong also had high hopes for Liu Zhongli because of his past glorious achievements, so he temporarily lent him two thousand armored soldiers.
With men and horses in hand, Liu Zhongli became more courageous. After leaving Jiangling, he rushed to Jingling first, where he continued to recruit armored soldiers and collect weapons and staffs. The men and horses under his command soon grew to more than 5,000.
When his troops and horses were strong, Liu Zhongli continued to lead his troops eastward and finally returned to his hometown in Anlu. After hearing the news, his chief Shi Maxiu and others also gathered together with Lu Haoqiang to welcome Liu Zhongli back to the town.
An encounter in Jiankang City was nothing less than a disaster for Liu Zhongli, which made him no longer as vigorous as before, and he was cautious in everything. After initially settling down in Anlu's lair, he was not in a hurry to make trouble, but
Patiently handling state affairs and rectifying personnel, he turned a deaf ear to the King of Eastern Hunan's repeated envoys and urgings.
But this does not mean that Liu Zhongli sticks to his duties and is willing to stay in Anlu and not come out. He is still concerned about changes in the external situation, especially various personnel changes in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
After Hou Jing entered Taicheng and King Qin's troops retreated, Hou Jing took control of the government and sent his minions to all parties, especially to increase control over the Sanwu area, and had no time to take care of the upper reaches for the time being.
However, there was still Poyang King Xiao Fan in Huainan who was stationed in Hefei. He claimed to be brave and brave, and still wanted to cross the river to serve as king, so he abandoned Hefei and sent his two sons to the Eastern Wei Dynasty to ask for reinforcements. At the same time, he sent a letter to the armies upstream, hoping to
Gather people from all walks of life to recapture Jiankang.
However, after the Eastern Wei Dynasty accepted its two sons, it had no intention of sending troops to help. As for the parties upstream, the King of Xiangdong had already sent troops to fight Xiao Yu, the King of Hedong in Xiangzhou, while the others still attracted people to watch, and no one paid attention to Poyang.
king.
King Poyang originally sat in Ruxukou and planned to gather all the troops, but when the food ran out, no reinforcements came. Hefei was occupied by the Eastern Wei Dynasty, so he had no plan to advance or retreat, so he could only move his troops westward. Hou Jing took the opportunity to leave.
When Jiankang came out of Tungu, the Poyang royal general Pei Zhiti and others led his troops to surrender.
After learning about this incident, Liu Zhongli secretly resented it. Originally, Demon King Hou Jingna was still concentrating on controlling the Sanwu area and had no time to look westward. However, he was attracted by this good-for-nothing King Poyang and his attention was drawn to him.
Although there are many towns in the upper reaches and the battle lines are long, they are not under each other's control, and they are even at war with each other.
Liu Zhongli had experienced Hou Jing's power, but felt that once he led his troops to the west, the towns upstream would inevitably be defeated one by one, and Anlu, where he was located, would be equally unsafe.
Once Hou Jing advances to this point, Anlu will inevitably become the front line to stop the enemy's attack on Jiangling. Liu Zhongli has deeply understood the dangers of cooperating with the Liang clans after going through all the troubles, and naturally he is not willing to fall into this desperate situation.
If you want to get rid of this situation, you can only open up a larger living space outwards. Between Jiang and Han, Xiangyang is naturally the best choice. Therefore, regardless of the urging of the King of Xiangdong, in order to improve your situation and grow stronger
In terms of power, Xiangyang is also the target that Liu Zhongli must capture!
After realizing this, Liu Zhongli strengthened his spying on the Xiangyang area while continuing to reorganize his troops. Soon his troops were restored to more than 10,000 troops.
Although quite a few of them were with the local tycoons, under the influence of Liu Zhongli's reputation and the temptation of the goal of conquering Xiangyang, these people were willing to obey Liu Zhongli's orders and planned to have fun after capturing Xiangyang.
take a share of the pie.
This kind of military strength is naturally inferior to that of Liu Zhongli's heyday, but it is still enough for a battle.
Xiangyang is where Liu Zhongli's hometown is, and he knows its city defense layout well. The Liu family in Hedong still enjoys a high reputation among the people of Xiangyang. As long as some external variables are eliminated, Liu Zhongli will not be able to capture Xiangyang and expel Xiao Qi, the king of Yueyang.
There is still no lack of confidence.
Perhaps it was time for things to turn out, and when Liu Zhongli put the attack on Xiangyang on the agenda, good news soon came from Xiangyang. According to reports from his informant who had sneaked into Xiangyang, a large number of boats on the Han River channel were filled with flags and sailed.
Carrying a large number of people and horses upstream, the number of people was at least tens of thousands, but the defenders of Xiangyang did not decrease significantly.
Liu Zhongli pondered for a moment after hearing the news, and immediately became happy: "It must be the Wei army plotting Hanzhong, taking advantage of the Han River to march westward! Hanzhong is the gate of Longnan, which is related to the comfort of the heart of the country. Xiangyang is far away in Hannan,
After several military campaigns, Han Dong was defeated. Which one is more important and which is more important is obvious at a glance."
Liu Zhongli's taboo was that when attacking Xiangyang, the Western Wei Dynasty might suddenly intervene and reap the benefits. But now that he knew that the Western Wei Dynasty was about to march into Hanzhong, his worries were greatly eliminated.
The roads surrounding Hanzhong are difficult and difficult to defend. Although Xiao Xun, the Marquis of Yifeng, who is stationed on the other side, is not known for his bravery and talent, he is also benevolent and is very popular. Moreover, to the south of Hanzhong, there is also the army of Wuling King Xiao Ji.
Shuzhong can provide reinforcements nearby. Even if Hanzhong cannot be defended in the end, it can still be done by delaying the Wei army for a period of time.
As for this period of time, it is a good time for Liu Zhongli to invade Xiangyang. After entering and occupying Xiangyang, his power will span the east and west of the Han River. Compared with the king of eastern Hunan, he will not be less generous than the King of Eastern Hunan. He will definitely make great achievements regardless of whether he is advancing or retreating offensively and defensively!
However, Liu Zhongli was also an experienced general, so he was not overjoyed by the good news. He first led a group of troops, Ma Bofu, the prefect of Yiyang, the son of Ma Xiu, the commander-in-chief, to seize control of Xiameng garrison adjacent to Jingzhou in the north of Mian.
In order to test and attract the remaining troops in Jingzhou of the Western Wei Dynasty, his troops did not go north directly through Suijun Pass, but went south along Jiangxi to Jingling, and then went north by boat and carriage from Jingling.
Next, Liu Zhongli's army conquered Shicheng south of Xiangyang, and sent envoys to Xiangyang to inform King Yueyang Xiao Jin that he was going to attack Jingzhou in the north under the orders of King Xiangdong. He hoped that King Yueyang could provide a number of boats at Xianshan Weir for his troops Wubei.
Attack the enemy.
After attracting the attention of the Xiangyang defenders to the line of Han River in the east and placing heavy defenses, Liu Zhongli finally revealed his true colors, led three thousand fine cavalry to abandon ship and land, and then quickly rushed towards Wanshan in the west of Xiangyang City.
The levee can control the Xiangyang waterway wharf, cut off the connection between Xiangyang and Hanbei, and directly attack Xiangyang Fucheng!
King Jiankang Qin failed but was forced to surrender to Hou Jing. This is indeed a stain on Liu Zhongli's life, but it does not mean that his talents are mediocre.
As a famous general in the Southern Liang Dynasty and using troops in his hometown, Liu Zhongli could easily control King Yueyang in Xiangyang City. When he was still in Xian Mountain personally supervising the formation to connect Liu Zhongli's northward boat division, Liu Zhongli's elite cavalry had already
Rushing up the embankment, you are only one step away from Xiangyang City!