It was late November, and Liu Xie had led his army across the river and officially set up camp at Niuzhujitou. It was already the end of early winter, and snowflakes began to fall in Jiangdong. Although compared with the winter in the north, the winter in Jiangdong
It needs to be warmer, but there is a hint of dampness and coldness. In normal times, it is not a big deal, but now, due to the rush of the war, many soldiers did not have all their winter clothes ready, so they had to add two more autumn clothes. They usually wear them in the camp
Many bonfires were set up, so they managed to make do. Looking at the rolling foothills to the east, under the gloomy clouds, and the broad Yangtze River rolling behind them, it could not stop the Han soldiers from adding to their pride.
Judging from the current situation, everything is going very smoothly. When the Han army landed at Niuzhuji, the Wu army guarding the island saw it from a distance. Seeing its flags stretching to the sky and their boats covering the sun, they couldn't help but be extremely frightened and fled immediately. This happened
The Han army took over Niuzhuji unscathed, and further occupied Rentouji, Ma'anshan, Huashan and other places. When the 200,000-strong army fully crossed the river, Liu Xie rode non-stop and ordered Huang Quan to stay at Niuzhuji, leaving the remaining two groups behind.
The army continued to advance eastward: Zhou Buyi led the right army to move south temporarily, and then attacked eastward along the Lishui River, approaching Taihu Lake; Liu Xie and Guo Huai led the left army to launch an attack along the river. The purpose of this offensive
It is already very obvious that the goal is to clear out Jianye's periphery first and then launch a general attack on Jianye.
The ensuing battle can be described as overwhelming. Under the leadership of Wu Jun's surrender, Zhou Buyi's troops traveled unimpeded. The cities in Wuhu, Liyang, Yangxian and other cities they encountered along the way also turned against each other, and finally stopped.
Between Wuxi and Piling, all connections between Jianye and the southern counties were completely cut off. Liu Xie encountered a similar situation. He captured Shicheng, Danyang, Jiangcheng, Jurong and other counties along the river, and joined Zhou Buyi.
At the foot of Zhongshan Mountain, Jianye has been completely reduced to an isolated city.
Of course, although it is said to be an isolated city, there are actually many strongholds left outside Jianye City. Similar to Pingcheng and Yecheng, since Sun Quan established his capital here, he considered that a complete defense system could be established here: Jianye City
The northern section of Jianye City relies on Jilong Mountain and Fuzhou Mountain. Behind the two mountains is Xuanwu Lake. It can be said that it is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and it is extremely difficult to attack from here. The eastern section of Jianye City is bounded by Qingxi and is bounded by Qingxi.
It is a trench with a meandering green stream that is dozens of miles long. It is inconvenient for the Wu people to erect walls here, so they built fences for defense. The western section of Jianye City is bounded by Yundu. As the name suggests, Yundu is used to transport grain for Jianye.
The specially excavated canal was also an important trench. Jianye's granaries and arsenals were built here. A stone city was built on Qingliang Mountain to the west of Yundu to guard the Yangtze River and prevent enemy naval forces from entering or leaving the north. It was the only place convenient for attack.
It is to the south of Jianye City, where the Huaihe River flows. Both sides of the riverbank are flat land. The Wu people built a stone bridge and two wooden bridges between the rivers. Ten miles further north is the south wall of Jianye City.
According to Zhang Zhao, even if the outer city is conquered, there is still an inner palace built in the city, which stores ten years of grain for defense.
Liu Xie personally led his troops to look around the terrain of Jianye, and was greatly amazed by the situation of the tiger and the dragon. He couldn't help but said to Wei Xi and others who were accompanying him: "Such a dangerous place can indeed be the residence of an emperor. It's no wonder that Zhao Zheng came here.
There is an act of digging water to waste the foundation." In ancient times, Jianye was also called Jinling. When Qin Shihuang visited this place on his eastward tour, he heard that there was Jinling Mountain here, which contained royal energy, so he ordered the local area to dig the Huai River to release the royal energy of Jinling Mountain.
It was renamed Moling, and Liu Xie's lament came from this.
It was out of fear of Jianye city defense that before the war started, Liu Xie specially wrote a letter and sent it to the city by Zhang Zhao's son Zhang Cheng. The letter said: "The former Cao thieves rebelled and incited Hebei, and he thought he responded.
Cao Zheng wanted to cheat and take bribes, but how could he subvert him? I remember the friendship between my father and old people, Dou Rong, who has shown friendship many times, but I didn't expect that he would refuse the kindness and betray the gift, and it would be self-effective.
Yelang is still interested in fighting! These false accusations force me to fight hard! So I rode in Pengcheng, captured Ru Huaibei, waved my arms at Hefei, and captured Huainan! This shows that the destiny is in Han, and the sun is in me, how clear it is! But God has
The virtue of a good life, the way of good deeds in the country, every time I think of our people, I feel sad! Therefore, regardless of the past grievances, I will show mercy again. Within seven days, he will come to camp, and he can seal thousands of households. If the family is overdue, he will die.
Take the ear of death!"
When Zhang Cheng came back that night, he was missing an ear. It turned out that it had been cut off by Wu people in the city. He cried and complained to Liu Xie: "Sun Quan doesn't know what is good and what is good. After he believed it, he burned it on the spot.
I spread rumors to the officials in the palace and wanted to say something, but one of my ears was cut off on the spot. It is really a disgrace to my mission. Please punish me!"
Liu Xie was not unprepared for this, so he did not get angry. Instead, he asked: "What rumor did Sun Quan make?"
Zhang Cheng raised his head and glanced at Liu Xie, then lowered his head and whispered softly: "He said that His Majesty is... a nine-fingered short fox. If you don't keep your word, you must not take it seriously."
After saying that, the generals in the camp were furious and asked Liu Xie for orders to attack the city, but Liu Xie waved his hand to suppress it. Liu Xie put his left hand on his chin and said with a smile: "Do you want to fight to the death? I didn't expect Sun Zhongmou to be bloody. Then
Just as he wishes!" Even so, Liu Xie did not advance the siege pace because of this, but ordered the soldiers to build siege equipment while waiting for winter clothes, and then attack the city when everything was ready.
Time came to the beginning of December, and as grain and winter clothes were being transported to the Zhongshan camp in the south of the Yangtze River, Liu Xie planned to launch an offensive against Jianye on Yisi day. After passing on the order, he ordered the Huotou camp to kill cattle and sheep.
In the three days before the siege, he held a banquet to make the soldiers eat and drink happily and encourage their military morale. But on the night of the Wuxu Day, he received a letter from Luoyang: The queen had given birth prematurely at the end of November.
The next prince is a prince, but both mother and son are infected with the disease, and the palace doctors are doing their best to treat them.
This letter was written by the Empress Dowager Liu Jia herself. She wrote in the letter: "The Empress is seriously ill and her breath is weak. It is difficult for the imperial doctor to decide on the funeral. I know that you are worried and can return home quickly!"
When Liu Xie saw this letter, his heart went cold for a moment. He couldn't help but think: Shi Jiji had a rosy face when she left the capital, how could she be in this position now? But thinking of the news he had received when he was in the Huaibei camp, he couldn't help but think
He didn't believe it. This made Liu Xie suddenly depressed. He sat in the camp, staring blankly at the letter in his hand. When Zhou Buji came in to report to him, he calmed down and looked at the letter absentmindedly.
He smiled suspiciously and said, "Wen Zhi, what do you need from me?"
Zhou Buji could tell at a glance that something was wrong with Liu Xie, but he couldn't say it clearly. He could only sit down and test it out: "Your Majesty, have you forgotten? We made an agreement yesterday, and today we will decide on the person who will be the main attacker."
When Liu Xie heard this, he immediately slapped his head and laughed at himself: "Yes, yes, how could I forget this? I thought about it all night last night and felt..." When the words came to his lips, he couldn't say them out.
It was as if everything went blank and his throat was choked by something. He was stunned for a long time, and then he apologized to Zhou Buyi and said, "Sorry, Wen Zhi, I have no intention of fighting at the moment. You can write a memorandum on this matter and I will approve it."
"
Zhou Bujie didn't say much. After saluting, he left the imperial tent. He spent half an hour drawing up a list before entering the tent again to ask for an audience. Unexpectedly, when he saw the emperor again, he found that he was still in a state of despair. Lian Zhou Buji came in.
They didn't even notice it. After Zhou Buyi coughed slightly, he handed the list to the emperor and asked, "Your Majesty, what do you think of this list?"
The emperor took the list in his hand, but without even looking at it, he put the paper on the table and said straight to the point: "Wenzhi, the queen is seriously ill. I have no intention of fighting. I'm afraid I have to go back to the capital. The war here is going on.
I’m going to leave it all to you, how about it?”
These shocking words immediately stunned Zhou Buyi. He immediately said no, and then fell to the ground, thinking quickly about the pros and cons in his mind: Why is the queen so ill? Could it be that the queen was born prematurely, and the palace is unknown?
? Or is it because there are other hidden reasons? But no matter what happened in the palace, the army was about to attack the city, and the emperor suddenly proposed to leave the army and return to Beijing, handing over all the army to himself. The variables were too great. Military matters were left to their own devices.
Maybe it can still be solved, but when the commander is changed before the battle, what do the soldiers fighting on the front think? What do the soldiers and civilians watching in Jiangdong think? Thinking of this, Zhou Buyi felt confused for a moment.
Just when Zhou Bujie was about to refuse, Liu Xie seemed to have made up his mind. He stood up first, helped Zhou Bujie up from the ground, then looked at him and said: "Wen Zhi, this matter is settled.
Now. Even if I sit here, I will only drag down the morale of the army. And if I don't return to Beijing, I'm afraid I will regret it for the rest of my life! They say that the emperor is a loner, but you are my best friend, and I can trust you! Please help.
Let me do it!"
The emperor has always been known as a mean and unkind person, but now he said such emotional words. Zhou Buyi knew the weight contained in it. The words he originally wanted to reject were suddenly replaced by moved emotions. He hesitated.
After thinking for a while, he finally agreed to Liu Xie: "Since it is entrusted by Your Majesty, I would rather die than die!"
The two of them agreed, and that night, the emperor held a military meeting in the tent and told the generals that he was about to return to the capital. When the generals learned about it, they had different expressions: some such as Sun Zi, Wen Hui, etc.
They looked happy, thinking that without the emperor's constraints, they could flex their muscles; some, such as Huang Quan, Guo Huai, etc., had worried eyes, obviously thinking that changing commanders before the battle was detrimental to the war; some, such as Deng Dang, Lu Fan, etc., were trapped in
He looked thoughtful, not knowing what he was thinking. But no matter what the generals thought, it was a foregone conclusion that the emperor would return to the capital.
In front of everyone, Liu Xie took off his gold-studded belt and handed it to Zhou Buyi with his own hands. Then he said to everyone: "After I leave, all matters in the army will be left to the full authority of Governor Zhou. If anything goes against his will,
The military commander will definitely kill you without mercy!" Then Guo Huai and Huang Quan were still ordered to be deputy generals of Zhou Buyi.
After briefly handing over the affairs in hand to Zhou Buyi, Liu Xie returned to Jiangbei by boat early the next morning and embarked on his journey back to Beijing. On the boat, Liu Xie looked back to the south of the river. Behind the rolling waves, there were dots of snow in the air.
Dancing wildly, there were pine waves swaying and gray clouds flowing on the desolate Zhongshan Mountain, and there seemed to be infinite reverie among them. When Liu Xie saw this, he couldn't help but feel a little sad, knowing that he had given up the opportunity to unify himself, and he also felt a little regretful in his heart. Just as he was feeling lost at the bow of the ship
Suddenly, a gust of west wind blew by, blowing the bamboo hat on his head and falling into the waves.
It was against this background that the Battle of Jianye slowly began.