Chapter 71: Chu Jun takes over two in one] '10,11/40'
To be fair, at first, Zhao Hongrun did not think of using the Lu State as a temptation to lure the Chu State to send troops to take over the bargaining chips in the Song Dynasty war zone. However, as Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo guessed, Qi General Tian Dan was really annoyed. , harassed the Wei army day after day, and tried every means to force Zhao Hongrun to send troops to fight with him.
Since the generals of the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army had previously been ordered by Zhao Hongrun to "not provoke war," under the harassment of Qi General Tian Dan, the Wei Army inevitably had a sense of compromise, which made the Yanling Army and the Shang Shui Army The navy soldiers couldn't stand it.
As two armies of the Wei State that have been established for ten years and have never been defeated in all these years of fighting in the north and south, the soldiers of the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army certainly have that pride in their hearts. How can they tolerate Tian Dan harassing them again and again? ?They thought to themselves that they could not defeat Tian Dan, so why should they tolerate it again and again?
Fortunately, Zhao Hongrun's prestige among these two armies is unparalleled, otherwise, the soldiers below would have long complained and lamented.
But even so, there were still many soldiers who entrusted a hundred generals, who entrusted a thousand generals, and a thousand generals entrusted three thousand generals. In this way, layer by layer, they entrusted people to test Zhao Hongrun's words, or asked Ying to fight.
This makes Zhao Hongrun a little helpless. You must know that his goal is South Korea. If he doesn't move, half of South Korea's life will be taken away. How can he have time to pay attention to the Qilu Allied Forces led by Tian Dan?
After all, in any war, people will definitely die. Even if it is the Shangshui Army and the Yanling Army, after Zhao Hongrun decides to go to war with Tian Dan, there will inevitably be casualties. The question is, is there any objection to such casualties?
He is destined to fight in South Korea. To put it bluntly, even if he beat Tian Dan to the ground here, he is only making a wedding dress for Chu State. After all, the main purpose of Chu State's sending troops this time is to defeat Qi State. Wealth and Lu's technology, so why bother?
Under this situation, Zhao Hongrun could only write a letter and send it to Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo, hinting that the latter would send someone to Ningyang as soon as possible to take over the war here.
In his opinion, the Chu army was too incompetent.
In mid-August, Chu Gongzi Yangcheng Jun Xiong Tuo 'understood' the hint in Zhao Hongrun's letter, and sent his Chu State general Xiang Mo to lead more than 100,000 Chu troops to the "Pengcheng" and "Peidi" areas.
Regarding the arrival of one hundred thousand Chu troops led by Chu general Xiang Mo, the first person to learn about it was the warlord "Huan Hu" who occupied Peixian County. He was really shocked when he learned about it.
You must know that in the eastern part of Song County, except for Huan Hu, there have been troops from Wei, Song, Qi, Lu and other forces gathered. But now even the Chu army has come to join in the fun. Even Huan Hu can't judge this. The trend of the situation on the side.
In late August, Chu general Xiang Mo led more than 100,000 troops to pass through "Pei County".
On that day, Huan Hu ordered the whole city to be under martial law and ordered all his Suiyang troops to board the city wall to guard against the Chu army.
Perhaps noticing the tension in Peixian County, Chu General Xiang Mo took a group of Chu soldiers to take a closer look at Peixian County. He saw that the soldiers on the walls of Peixian County were lined up in silence, as if they were well-trained, and he felt a little puzzled. , then asked the people around him: "Who are the defenders of Peixian County?"
After hearing this, someone with knowledge explained: "The defenders of Peixian County are the troops of Huan Hu, Nangong Yao's old tribe... Huan Hu initially served as a general under Nangong Yao's tent, but later turned against his master and captured Suiyang. , and killed Nangong Yao. It is said that Huan Hu used Nangong Yao's head to surrender to the Wei State, but the Wei State did not accept it and still judged him as a bandit and sent Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, to expel him. Huan Hu lost Sui After Yang, he fled to Pei County to settle down."
"It turns out to be that Huan Hu."
Xiang Mo nodded in sudden realization.
He also has some impressions of Huan Hu, including Chen Shou, the general under Huan Hu. During the "Five Directions Campaign to Defeat Wei", Xiang Mo looked at Huan Hu. Chen Shou was a talented general, even Shouxian.
When Lingjun Jingshe was still alive, he also thought about recruiting Huan Hu and Chen Shou. However, later the Chu army was defeated at Yongqiu, and Shoulingjun Jingshe committed suicide in the Chu River, so the matter was settled.
.
After thinking about it, Xiang Mo summoned a private soldier and ordered: "Go to the gate of Peixian County and shout a few words, saying that our Chu army passed through this place and did not commit any crimes in the autumn of Peixian County. There is no need to be too vigilant."
"yes!"
The soldier followed the order and went to the gate of Peixian County to shout.
At that time, Huan Hu and his general Chen Shou were both on the tower in the east of the city. When they heard soldiers from the Chu army coming to shout at the city, Chen Shou asked Huan Hu, "Do you think you can believe it?"
Huan Hu crossed his arms and thought for a long time, frowned and said: "I heard that the Chu State is attacking Sishui County, but I don't know why this Chu army is here, but I think we should not be the target of the Chu State...
"
In Huan Hu's view, the Central Plains is now experiencing the most chaotic times. All countries have been affected by the war between Wei and South Korea, and they have successively taken a stand and declared war on the enemy. Under this general situation, Chu's goal
It should be the State of Qi or the State of Lu. What does Huan Hu mean to him?
After thinking for a while, he added: "Since Xiang Mo of Chu State has sent someone to express his goodwill, we must not lose sight of etiquette. Chen Shou, come with me to pay a visit to the general of Chu State."
Chen Shou glanced at Xiang Mojun, who looked like a long snake in the distance outside the city, and nodded slowly.
After a while, the gate of Peixian City opened. Huan Hu took Chen Shou and a group of cavalry with only a few dozen people, slowly approached the Chu army, and showed his flag to express his desire to meet Chu General Xiang Mo.
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Xiang Mo was surprised by this. He smiled and said to his neighbors: "This Huan Hu is really brave. He dared to go out of the city to see Xiang with only about 20 people."
Although he said this, he finally took a team of people and went to meet Huan Hu in person.
When the two sides met, Huan Hu raised his hands and clasped his fists to salute Xiang Mo: "General Xiang, farewell to Suiyang. You are well."
After hearing this, Xiang Mo asked curiously: "Does General Huan Hu recognize Xiang?"
Huan Hu smiled and explained: "When Lord Shouling Jun Jingshe of your country led his army through Suiyang, Huan Hu was listening under the tent of Nangong Yao and was lucky enough to meet General Xiang. However, General Xiang may not remember the last general.
.”
As soon as he heard the name "Shouling Junjingshe", Xiang Mo couldn't help but sigh.
Although the relationship between Wei and Chu is currently very good, it cannot be denied that the "Battle of Yongqiu" is a pain engraved in Chu's heart, because in this battle, Chu lost at least 400,000 regular troops and lost his life.
Lingjun Jingshe and Diyangjun Xiong Shang are the two Three Heavenly Pillars. Even though the Chu State has been constantly fighting with the Qi State in the past thirty years, there has never been a war like the "Battle of Yongqiu" that seriously damaged the vitality of the Chu State.
.
Even in the "Battle of the Four Kingdoms against Chu", Chu's losses were not so great.
After thinking about it, Xiang Mo said to Huan Hu: "Master Jingshe told Xiang about General Huan Hu before his death, and thought that the general was a rare talent. Since General Huan Hu is not tolerated by the Wei State, why not defect to our country, the Chu State"
, build a career?”
Huan Hu blinked in surprise.
In fact, the reason why he came out of the city to meet Xiang Mo this time was to expand his network of contacts. If he couldn't survive in Song County in the end, it wouldn't be a bad idea to go to Xiang Mo - it was still a way to survive.
But what he didn't expect was that Xiang Mo would recruit him at this time.
After thinking about it, he smiled and said: "Thanks to General Xiang for your attention, can you let Huan consider this matter?"
This was considered a polite rejection of Xiang Mo's solicitation.
This is not surprising, because Huan Hu was originally an ambitious man. Even if he used Nangong Yao's head to surrender to Wei, he just wanted to replace Nangong Yao's position in Song County. How could he really want to defect to Wei? country.
But now that Xiang Mo is recruiting him, if Xiang Mo promises that he will inform Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, to make Huan Hu a real king of the city in the future, then Huan Hu will really consider it, as for simply leading his soldiers to defect to Chu. , or as a general under Xiang Mo, then forget it. Huan Hu still understands the principle of preferring to be the head of a chicken rather than the queen of an ox. How can he be willing to put his wealth and life in the hands of others?
Seeing Huan Hu politely refuse, Xiang Mo was not angry. It is true that Huan Hu is a talent in his eyes, but in this era, the most indispensable thing is talent. Xiang Mo does not think that his generals from Chu State will really be inferior to him. A bandit leader.
So Xiang Mo just said without any nutrition: "Then Xiang is waiting for the good news from General Huan Hu."
After ending this topic, Huan Hu began to test Xiang Mo's purpose in coming to Song County in a circumstantial way: "As far as Huan knows, your army is attacking Sishui County, but General Xiang led his army here. Could it be that Does your country have any other opinions on Song County?"
Xiang Mo heard the words and said with a smile: "Song County is the territory of Wei State, and we, Da Chu, are Wei's allies. How can we covet Song County?" After a pause, he casually said: "Xiang Mo is here this time. Just to help Wei Gongzi Run and help him defeat Tian Dan."
After chatting for a while, Xiang Mo said goodbye with fists in his hands.
Does Wei Gongzi Run need help? In Huan Hu's opinion, this is simply the biggest joke in the world. Regarding the few battles that Wei Gongzi Run personally went to fight, in which of the Wei army did not suppress the opponent from beginning to end?
Not to mention, the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army, two powerful armies of the Wei State, are currently under the command of Wei Gongzi Run, with a total of 100,000 troops. In Huan Hu's view, these 100,000 Wei troops are led by Wei Gongzi Run, and they are like an army. How could a force that was powerful enough to sweep through the Lu State and defeat the Qi State need the help of the Chu Army?
However, looking back, thinking about it, this time Wei Gongzi Run sent troops to Song County, and the use of troops was indeed a bit strange. He only made a sneak attack on Ningyang and then no follow-up actions were taken. Although Tian Dan was also a famous Qi general in the world, he was not As for being able to suppress Mr. Wei to this point, right?
"...Perhaps, Wei Gongzi Run's goal this time is not Song County or Qilu."
Suddenly, a sentence came out of Huan Hu's mouth.
"What?" Chen Shou seemed to have not heard clearly and asked in confusion.
I saw Huan Hu frowning and thinking for a moment, and said in a deep voice: "I suspect that Wei Gongzi Run led the army to Song County this time to make South Korea relax its vigilance, so that he can sneak attack the hinterland of South Korea in the future. Only in this way can we Explain why Wei Gongzi Run did not take any follow-up actions after capturing Ningyang, and was still unwilling to confront Tian Dan, because he wanted to keep the Yanling Army and the Shangshui Army to sneak attack on South Korea."
After hearing this, Chen Shou asked with a hint of ridicule: "Are you worried about South Korea?"
Hearing this, Huan Hu smiled and said: "Although I am Korean, it does not mean that I will die for South Korea. Those in South Korea... forget it." At this point, he shook his head and continued the topic.
: "In short, Xiang Mo of Chu State has led his army here, most likely to take over Wei Gongzi Run's army and block Tian Dan."
Chen Shou glanced at Huan Hu for a few times and said calmly: "I don't think that I, the crown prince of Wei Dynasty, Zhao Run, can command the Chu army."
"What if the State of Lu is used as bait?"
Huan Hu narrowed his eyes and said in a low voice: "After the Four Kingdoms attacked Chu, the Wei State had already obtained the rubbings of the "Secret Records of Lu Gong" from the Lu State. In recent years, Wei State's craftsmanship and technology have advanced by leaps and bounds.
There is not much demand for craftsmanship, but Chu is different. Chu's technology lags far behind that of Lu and Wei. Now Wei Gongzi Run Chen Bing Ningyang can attack Lu at any time, but if he does not attack Lu, he will
By reaching a tacit agreement with the Chu State, it is possible to persuade the Chu army to follow Zhao Run's will and send troops to Song County to defend Zhao Run against Tian Dan's troops." At this point, he nodded sincerely and praised: "Your Wei State
This prince is definitely a hero of the world. It is a shame that I led my brothers to attack the King of Wei’s camp for a mere reward. Otherwise, if I had defected to Zhao Run early, I would have been able to stay in the Kingdom of Wei at this time.
If you become a noble, you may even get a fief."
Hearing this, Chen Shou laughed and shook his head.
Then, as if something suddenly occurred to him, he frowned and asked: "If Prince Zhao Run really reaches a tacit agreement with the Chu State and lets the Chu State attack the Lu State, will you and I still have to withdraw to the Lu State?"
Huan Hu touched the stubble on his chin, narrowed his eyes, and murmured, "Why not?"
Chen Shou was stunned and asked in surprise: "Do you think the State of Lu can stop the State of Chu?...Furthermore, if according to what you said, Xiang Mo led his army to Ningyang to succeed the crown prince Zhao Run, then it would be very difficult for him to do so.
It’s possible that Xiang Mo is attacking Lu, do you think Lu can stop Xiang Mo?”
Huan Hu squinted his eyes and whispered: "It's because the State of Lu can't stop us, that's why we can reflect the value of you and me."
Chen Shou was stunned for a while when he heard this, and then he gasped when he woke up and said in shock: "Are you crazy? That's the Chu State! The Chu State often sends millions of troops!"
"There is no chance." Huan Hu chuckled and said in a low voice: "If the Wei army attacks Lu, I will give up this idea immediately. But Chu is different. Although Chu has many people and soldiers, it is not as strong as Wei's soldiers and horses.
, and there are not as many terrible war weapons as the Wei State. The Lu State also has many war weapons, and the technology is not inferior to the Wei State. This country just lacks visionary and capable generals. With my vision, your
With my bravery and the war weapons made by the state of Lu, I have no fear even if I face Xiang Mo."
"..." Chen Shou frowned and thought for a while, feeling that what Huan Hu said made some sense.
After all, his impression of the Chu army was only that of large numbers of soldiers and generals, but what was the strength of Chu's soldiers? Just look back at the time when Wei Gongzi Run led an army of 50,000, but he was able to suppress Xiang Mo's army of 500,000 and
This can be seen from the fact that Shouling Jun Jingshe has an army of 100,000. Although there are various other reasons for this, it still shows that the soldiers of Chu are far less brave than those of Wei.
"Don't you want to give it a try?" Licking his lips, Huan Hu whispered: "If we can help the Lu country survive this disaster, you and I will definitely be regarded as honored guests by the Lu people.
When a country is appointed as a general or prime minister, it is extremely valuable to be cheered from the front and supported by the back."
In fact, Chen Shou didn't dare to be interested in this. Seeing Huan Hu's enthusiastic expression, he snorted and said lightly: "I hope you won't lose all your savings over the years."
"Hey, hey, hey." Huan Hu glanced at Chen Shou angrily, then licked his lips, his eyes filled with the light of ambition.
Two days later, Xiang Mo's army arrived at "Huling".
From Huling to Rencheng, this area already belongs to the sphere of influence controlled by the Wei army.
I still remember a while ago, when they learned that Wei Gongzi Zhao Run succeeded in a sneak attack on Ningyang, Qi General Tian Dan and Lu General Ji Wu were worried that the Wei army would sneak attack on Lu State, so they left Rencheng where they had succeeded in the night attack and sent their troops northward, making
The Beibo Army of "Xiang Ding (Song Yun)" could only defend Rencheng alone, resisting the army led by the three Wei generals Li Ji, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui.
Although Zhao Hongrun had previously ordered Li Qi, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui to slow down their offensive and try to delay the attack, the Beibo Army under Xiang Guan's command still could not withstand the Wei Army's offensive against Rencheng - there was nothing that could be done about it. After all, the Wei Army was in
The advantages in terms of equipment are huge.
All in all, the Beibo Army was finally forced to abandon Rencheng after holding on for half a month.
The three Wei generals, Li Ji, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui, deliberately delayed for a few days after retaking Rencheng, and then continued to attack Huling.
Since Huling's city defense was not comparable to that of Rencheng, Xiang Yu could only lead the Beibo Army to retreat to Tengcheng, hoping to rely on the geography of "Weishan Lake" to block the Wei army's advance.
While waiting for the Chu general Xiang Mo to lead an army of 100,000 to Huling, three Wei generals, Li Ji, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui, were supervising the construction of warships on the west bank of Weishan Lake. To put it bluntly, they were deliberately delaying time. After all, "
"The Pseudo-Song Dynasty" only left Tengcheng on the other side of Weishan Lake. Before Prince Zhao Run released the full strength of their three armies, how could Li Qi, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui dare to go against the plans of His Highness the Prince?
strategy, in order to prove his bravery, let the "pseudo-Song" be eliminated early?
This is why when Xiang Mo arrived in the Huling area, he was surprised to find that he did not see any tension in the battle from the state of the local Wei army.
Regarding the arrival of Xiang Mo, the three Wei generals Li Wei, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui were more or less on guard, especially the dredging army led by Li Wei. This army had fought against Chu twice in the past ten years.
The army of the state is fighting. Even though Wei and Chu are now in alliance, it is difficult to let go of the guard in my heart.
In order to show goodwill, Xiang Mo entered Huling County alone with only a few soldiers, visited three Wei generals, Li Ji, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui, and explained his purpose of visit: "Xiang is leading the charge this time."
The army came here at the invitation of Mr. Zhao Run of your country to take over from Yan Ling. The Shang Shui army responded to Tian Dan and asked several generals for permission."
Of course the three Wei generals Li Ji, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui knew that Zhao Hongrun was stationed in Ningyang just to wait for the opportunity to sneak attack on South Korea, but they really didn't know that His Highness the Crown Prince of their country actually invited the Chu army to come and take over.
Cai Qinhu complained about this and felt that Zhao Hongrun should leave this battle to their three Wei armies.
Of course, complaints are complaints, and the three generals actually understood the considerations of the crown prince of their country: Tian Dan is undoubtedly a hard nut. If he wants to crack this hard nut, even the Wei army will probably suffer a lot of casualties. Since there are
The idea is to let Chu's army take the risk and fight fiercely with Tian Dan. Why let their Wei army take action? Isn't it good to preserve their strength?
Anyway, even if Chu State knew that they had been tricked by the Crown Prince of Wei State this time, they still had to express their gratitude.
With a mixture of humor and emotion, Li Qian said to Xiang Mo: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of our country did not notify us of the arrival of your army before. Please ask Li to send someone to confirm this with His Highness the Crown Prince. Please forgive me."
Xiang Mo was not angry about this distrustful move. After all, after Chu and Wei experienced the "Five Parties Conquering Wei" and the "Battle of Yongqiu", let alone the Wei people, in fact Chu and Wei had a thorn in their hearts.
There is also some resentment towards the Wei people in people's hearts, but "harmony between Wei and Chu" is the current general policy of the two countries, so the Wei people and the Chu people can only contact each other cautiously, but I believe that after a period of time, this situation will change.
Something has changed.
"Our army has traveled a long way to get here, and we just happened to do some repairs here." Xiang Mo said without any hesitation.
On the same day, Li Qi, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui, as landlords, hosted a banquet in honor of Xiang Mo and the generals of the Chu State under his command. The 100,000-strong army led by Xiang Mo also made preparations in Huling.
, and obtained some food supplies from the Wei army.
Two days later, the news that "Chu General Xiang Mo arrived in Huling with an army of 100,000 people" was spread to Zhao Hongrun's ears by a messenger from the Junshui Army.
After getting the news, Zhao Hongrun took a long breath and thought: The Chu army who came to take over has finally arrived.
Thinking of this, he immediately sent out the Green Crows to inform Li Ji, Cai Qinhu, and Zhou Kui to let the Chu army go.
Immediately, he sent someone to invite Lu Wang Gong Shupan over again, and said to the latter during the banquet: "Because of the willfulness of the little king, I troubled the king to come here to meet the little king for some time, and I wanted to come to the country.
The Lord must be missing his wife, children, relatives and friends at this moment. Today, Xiao Wang will hold a banquet to see the Lord off. After drinking this meal, the Lord will return to Qufu."
After hearing what Zhao Hongrun said, Prince Lu Shupan couldn't believe his ears.
He always believed that Zhao Hongrun forced him to come to Ningyang in the name of having a drink together, just to put him under house arrest, and even threatened the Lu State with him. However, he never expected that this battle was far from over, but Zhao Hongrun put him under house arrest.
Let it go.
"Do you really want to let me go?" Prince Lu Shupan asked in disbelief.
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun smiled and said: "I, Zhao Run, will keep my word. Since I said I am inviting the king to have a drink together, then I am going to have a drink together. But..." At this point, he glanced at Gong Shupan and said sternly: "But, drink
After this farewell meal, the friendship between the king and the king, and the friendship between Wei and the state of Lu, has come to an end. If we meet again someday, if the situation does not change, I will regard the king as the king.
, will regard Lu as an enemy."
"..." Lu Wanggong Shupan was shocked when he heard this, and then responded with a wry smile.
The contradiction between Qi and Wei can no longer be reconciled. If the Lu State insists on being a companion of Qi State, then naturally it will be impossible to maintain the friendship with Wei State and Wei Gongzi Run, and they are destined to become enemies.
After a while, Lu Wanggong Shupan said sincerely: "I have lived alone for decades, and it is a great comfort to be able to meet a hero like Mr. Zhao Run."
After that, he toasted Zhao Hongrun with a glass of wine.
After the banquet that day, Zhao Hongrun kept his promise and released Prince Lu Shupan.
Two days later, when the Chu general Xiang Mo was about to lead his army to the Ningyang area, the Wei army under Zhao Hongrun changed from its previous passive and inactive state, moved in full force, and brazenly seized control of the outfield, bluffing Ditian into thinking that the Wei master opposite him was
Run finally couldn't hold back and prepared to attack him, and subconsciously adopted a defensive attitude.
As a result, that night, Zhao Hongrun only left a few thousand soldiers to guard Ningyang and several military camps outside the city, and led his Yanling Army and Shangshui Army to quietly move northward.
Two days later, Qi General Tian Dan waited for two days without seeing any action by the Wei army. He felt something was wrong. When he sent a special agent to investigate the Wei camp, he found that Ningyang and the Wei camp outside the city were actually hung up.
Flags with the words "Chu", "Three Pillars" and "General Xiang".
After learning about this, Tian Dan was so angry that he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.