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After Yue Lengqiu arrived in Luzhou, he received an imperial edict from Jiangning on the fifth day of the seventh lunar month, and was ordered to comfort Huaixi and Nanyang and review war preparations. This also represented Jiangning's determination to stick to the Huaihe River defense line and boost morale.
In Luzhou, although Cao Ziang received a warm reception, in Luzhou city, he only heard Cao Ziang say that Luzhou soldiers and horses had gathered at the twin temples in the north, but the actual situation could not be witnessed with his own eyes.
Yue Lengqiu didn't know whether what Cao Zi'ang said was true or false. Anyway, he stayed in Luzhou and couldn't guess whether the people in Huaidong had other intentions. After receiving the imperial edict, he left Luzhou and went north, first to Shou.
Zhou meets Dong Yuan.
Before going to Yuzhang to see Lin Fu, Yue Lengqiu had hung up his boots and resigned, so he only brought two servants with him. At this time, Yue Lengqiu still retained the official position of deputy privy envoy, and carried an edict to comfort Huaixi and Nanyang. Naturally, they were restored
As a minister, Deng Yu selected more than 300 elite soldiers from Chizhou to serve as guards of honor and protect Yue Lengqiu's safety along the way.
For more than a year, Huaidong has invested a lot of resources in Luzhou. Not counting the local taxes collected by Luzhou Prefecture, one million taels of silver were invested in Luzhou alone from the war bonds raised after last autumn.
This allowed the Luzhou area to quickly recover from the chaos caused by Emperor Yongxing's northward flight. The roads to the north of Luzhou City were quite well built, including the Feishui River and other rivers connecting the Huaihe River from the north of Luzhou, as well as the dams along the banks.
There are signs of fresh renovation.
Although in the past Huaixi was very wary of Huaidong's garrison in Luzhou, and built forts and military strongholds to the south of Shouzhou and southeast of Xinyang to garrison troops, the post roads and rivers in Huaixi were basically still
The situation is smooth, at least the conflict has not developed to the point where the two armies are confronting each other.
Along the way north, we encounter rivers running east-west. There are bamboo and wooden bridges on small rivers and pontoon bridges on large rivers. The post roads are smooth and barrier-free. The post roads to and from Xinyang are also smooth.
The smoothness of the post road also ensured that Huaidong's soldiers and horses in Luzhou could enter Xinyang as quickly as possible, and then enter Nanyang via Xinyang.
Although Huaidong has more than 40,000 troops stationed in Luzhou, plus an unknown size of supply troops, they can quickly enter Nanyang and fight in Xinyang in the upcoming Battle of Nanyang. However, it is easy to invite gods but difficult to send away. Unless it is absolutely necessary, Dong
There was no intention to cause Huaidong soldiers and horses to enter Xinyang prematurely.
It is only two hundred miles from Luzhou to Shouzhou.
The three hundred guardsmen were elite cavalry, and Yue Lengqiu did not want to waste time on the road. He said goodbye in the early morning and set out from Luzhou. When night fell, Shouzhou was already in sight.
Along the way, they passed through various prefectures and counties, and saw the restoration of farming in Huaixi. Yue Lengqiu had to admit that Dong Yuan was indeed a talented person, both in literature and in martial arts.
According to the secret discussion with Huaidong last year, starting from this year, the food and salary allocated to Huaixi by the Ministry of Revenue will be sharply reduced to one million taels. If there is not enough to support the troops, they will have to extract taxes from the local area.
Except for Luzhou, the situation in Huaixi is slightly better, Xinyang, Shouzhou, Haozhou, as well as Woyang, Yingkou, Sizhou and other places on the north bank of the Huaihe River were almost completely destroyed in the Huaisi battle, and Dingkou also declined significantly.
, it was only later that the refugees who fled from Henan, Shandong and other places were accommodated, and some vitality was restored. Dong Yuan entered Huaixi less than three years ago. Although the north bank of the Huaihe River is still a wasteland, Haozhou and Shouzhou on the south bank,
In the three prefectures of Xinyang, farming has recovered quite well, and it is basically possible to extract grain from local areas to supply military food. This is indeed due to Dong Yuan's governance.
It is a pity that the situation changed so quickly that it was dizzying to see. The Yan and Hu armies were pressing forward. Although the troops were heading straight towards Nanyang, Huaixi would never feel better, and Dong Yuan would not be given time to calmly clean up the people's livelihood and reorganize the army.
Representatives from Huaixi, Liu Tingzhou, the right deputy censor of the capital, went out of the city to the ten-mile pavilion to greet him. Seeing the horse team with two carriages coming from the south, Liu Tingzhou, stroking his long beard, walked down from the pavilion and went to the roadside to greet him.
Yue Lengqiu came to inspect the troops on behalf of the Privy Council, but this did not alleviate the worry on Liu Tingzhou's face.
Everyone knows that after Yue Lengqiu was defeated in Songyang, he had no choice but to be driven by Lin Fu to do this kind of errand work. In fact, how the war in Nanyang will develop depends entirely on Huaidong's attitude. Yue Lengqiu has no choice but to do this.
It cannot represent Huaidong.
Yue Lengqiu's coming here can also boost morale. For real practical issues, people need to be sent to Luzhou to talk to Cao Zi'ang. On the north bank of the Yangtze River, Cao Zi'ang is the one who can speak on behalf of Lin Fu.
Yue Lengqiu was a civil servant. After his fifties, his muscles and bones were not as good as before. Although he was traveling by car, he traveled two hundred miles a day and his bones were almost torn apart.
Seeing Liu Tingzhou greeting him at the roadside, Yue Lengqiu was also extremely emotional.
"It's been years since I've been away from Tingzhou, and now that I've come to Shouzhou, I'm afraid I'll miss it and not be able to see Tingzhou again," Yue Lengqiu said.
Liu Tingzhou was originally a little disappointed that Yue Lengqiu was not accompanied by someone from Huaidong, but after hearing Yue Lengqiu's sincere words, a warm current surged in his heart. He thought that he could occupy this position because of Yue Leng.
When he was promoted in Qiu, he bowed to his subordinates and said: "The demeanor of Governor Yue is still the same as before. How could Tingzhou miss the meeting with Governor Yue? However, the recruiting envoy went to Yingkou to inspect the army and could not come back today. This is a sign of neglect."
, ask Tingzhou to apologize to Governor Yue."
"The enemy outpost has reached Yingkou?" Yue Lengqiu asked.
"..." Liu Tingzhou nodded and said, "After the rebel general Ji Shiben led his troops into Ruyang, Chen Zhihu immediately led his troops eastward along the Beiru River, and more than 5,000 cavalry in the front, led by Leng Zilin, had already entered Suiping; in addition,
In the east, the rebel general Yuan Lishan also moved, and all his troops and horses gathered at the Jining line. At this time, the water was still strong, and Huaidong had water camps and warships on the Xusi defense line, so he was not afraid that Hu horses would dare to rush in, but
The situation here in Huaixi is much more serious..."
Huaixi also built warships, but how could the scale and combat power of Shuiying compare with Huaidong?
Furthermore, the Yingshui River is smaller than the Wishui River, Bianshui River, and Si River in the west. The small naval force does not have infantry to cooperate along the coast. If it is deeper than the Yingshui River, it is easy for the enemy to intercept and eat it. Therefore, Huaixi must prevent Yanhu
It will be very difficult for a large group of cavalry to approach the north bank of the Huaihe River.
In Luzhou, Yue Lengqiu knew that the troops that had entered Ruyang earlier showed signs of spreading along the Ru River and Ying River to the southeast, but it was still unclear who Yan Hu would use to attack Huaixi. He did not expect that
Just after one day, the situation became obvious.
Yue Lengqiu returned the favor to Liu Tingzhou and did not delay outside the city, asking him to ride with him in the car.
Although Dong Yuan was not in Shouzhou, Chu King Yuan Hancheng, Ding Zhiru, Chen Jinrong and others, like Liu Tingzhou, all played a decisive role in Huaixi.
Dong Yuan is not here, and the exchange of opinions with the people in Huaixi is the same. If Nanyang can be defended, then naturally he must do his best to defend it. If he cannot defend it, Yue Lengqiu will still try his best to find a way out for Chizhou.
Entering Shouzhou, I also knew that the city of Shouzhou was full of turmoil and everything was covered with soldiers - everyone knew that Yanhu would take advantage of the situation and move southward after taking Guanzhong.
The Huaixi army had as many as 110,000 soldiers, but at its peak, almost 60,000 of them were broken up by Dong Yuan and organized into soldiers, who were used to farm fields on both sides of the Huaihe River to make up for the lack of military food. Except for Shouzhou who returned to Dong
The 10,000 elite troops originally under the direct jurisdiction of Huaixi have been stationed in Woyang and Xinyang for a long time, leaving only 40,000 standing troops led by Tao Chun and Xiao Kui'an.
The measure of combining farming with war was the key to get Huaixi out of the food dilemma. Because Huaixi suffered little military pressure in the early stage, a large number of soldiers and horses could be laid off for farming.
However, when the situation developed to this point, especially after the news that Liang Chengyi abandoned the Hezhong Prefecture was confirmed, Dong Yuan was forced to recruit all the soldiers from the army into the army, restore the full strength of 110,000 soldiers, and even recruit a large number of civilians from the local area to accompany the army.
, prepare to have a big fight with Yan Hu on the north bank of the Huaihe River.
As for how serious damage this would cause to the farm, there was no time to worry about it at this time.
Dong Yuan was not in Shouzhou, and there was no one in Shouzhou City who was more qualified to entertain Yue Lengqiu than Yuan Hancheng. Yuan Hancheng hosted a banquet for Yue Lengqiu in the newly built Prince Chu's Mansion, accompanied by Liu Tingzhou, Ding Zhiru, Chen Jingrong and others.
Yuan Hancheng and Yue Lengqiu were also old acquaintances. When they were trapped in Xuzhou City and fought side by side for more than half a year, they had formed a deep friendship. It was only fitting that he should host a banquet to cleanse Yue Lengqiu.
Watching King Chu and Yue Lengqiu relinquishing the throne, Ding Zhiru stood at the bottom and sighed secretly: After Chen Xiyan's death, no one has as many connections in the court as Yue Lengqiu.
To be honest, after the defeat of Congyang, Yue Lengqiu was forced to bow to Lin Fu to save the Chizhou army. In fact, Ding Zhiru was worried that Yue Lengqiu would serve as Lin Fu's sword and disrupt the situation in Huaixi.
In fact, after the defeat of Songyang, it is not impossible that Lin Fu mobilized Yue Lengqiu to enter Huaixi and asked the Chizhou Army to reorganize within Huaixi, or to divide Huaixi into two parts and hand one to the Chizhou Army for defense.
If Lin Fuzhen really wanted to make such an arrangement, considering Yue Lengqiu's influence on people in Huaixi, especially Tao Chun, Liu Tingzhou, Yuan Hancheng and others, it would be difficult for Dong Yuan and Ding Zhiru to refuse firmly.
Fortunately, after the news of Liang Chengyi's abandonment of Hezhong Prefecture spread, Lin Fu urgently transferred Chizhou to cross the river to fight the enemies in eastern Hubei from the south. Ding Zhiru and Dong Yuan did not have to worry about Yue Lengqiu coming to disrupt Huaixi.
After refusing for a long time, Yue Lengqiu and Yuan Hancheng sat side by side.
After chatting for a while, Liu Tingzhou lost his temper and felt that there was no need to beat around the bush with Yue Lengqiu, so he went straight to the point and said: "Huaixi was just able to be self-sufficient in food, but when the war started, all the soldiers from the garrison were transferred out to replenish the army.
, farming after autumn will be greatly affected, and food will inevitably become tight again. Let’s ignore these for now. The more important thing is that Huaixi is still short of soldiers. The Privy Council promised to allocate a batch of soldiers, and also promised to send a batch of soldiers.
The ship was sent to Huaixi, but there has been no movement. Yue Du has just arrived from Yuzhang. Based on what Yue Du has seen, does the Privy Council hope that the Battle of Nanyang can go on or not?"
To be honest, by this time, others were not worried about whether the imperial court was determined to fight the Battle of Nanyang, but whether Lin Fu was determined to fight the Battle of Nanyang. Sixty-seven out of ten of the areas nominally ruled by the imperial court are now under the control of Huaidong
, if Huaidong is not determined to fight Yanhu in Nanyang, everyone can only go to sleep.
Although Yue Lengqiu cannot represent Lin Fu, Yue Lengqiu has just met Lin Fu in Yuzhang. Liu Tingzhou believes that with Yue Lengqiu's ability to recognize people, he should be able to make an accurate judgment on Lin Fu's mentality.