In view of Chen Shou's night attack on Chu Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei's military camp, which caused the latter to suffer huge losses, Huan Hu believed that Peixian could no longer stay in Peixian County for a long time.
Because Peixian County is sandwiched between "Xiao County" and "Huling" in the north-south direction. Xiao County in the south has been captured by Xiang Pei, the king of Xinyang of Chu State, while Huling in the north is currently home to the dredgers of Wei State.
, the three armies of Chenggao and Fenxing. In the current environment of the "Wei-Chu Alliance", Huan Hu cannot guarantee whether the three Wei armies stationed in Huling will assist Chu Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei and treat him favorably.
The county launched a two-sided attack.
Under this circumstance, Huan Hu crossed Weishan Lake alone and came to "Xuecheng" on the other side of the lake, and got in touch with "Ji Min", the city guard of Xuecheng.
Ji Min is a descendant of the "Ji family" in the "Three Huans" of the Lu State. In terms of seniority, he is the cousin of the general Ji Wu of the Lu State. His ability is mediocre and he does not have much ambition. Overall, he is a very good person.
If a mediocre person is not from the "Ji family", I believe that with his talents, he will definitely not be able to become the head of a county.
Ji Min was quite surprised by Huan Hu's arrival.
To be fair, although his ability is mediocre, it does not mean that Ji Miao is not aware of the warlords such as "Huan Hu", "Xiang Qian", and "Nangong Chen" who are separatist in the eastern part of Song County. Even Ji Miao and the Beibo Army
We have dealt with him many times. After all, the descendants of the royal family of the Song Dynasty fled to Xuecheng to seek asylum after the country was destroyed.
At first, for some reasons, Ji Min did not intend to meet Huan Hu, but when Huan Hu handed over the invitation, he also showed the token that Prince Lu Shupan had given to Huan Hu - this token was
It was given by Prince Shupan of Lu in order to allow Huan Hu's troops to enter the territory of Lu smoothly.
To be fair, it is a very dangerous thing to grant a royal order so easily. After all, no one can guarantee whether Huan Hu has sincerely defected to the State of Lu. However, under the current situation, Prince Lu will only lose.
You can choose to believe in Huan Hu.
Another reason is that, as Huan Hu said to Jin Gou, with his sworn assurances, Lu Wang Gong Shupan and Gong Zixing were completely convinced by him and regarded him as a life-saving straw.
Through this royal order, Huan Hu successfully met Ji Min, the guardian of Xuecheng City, and told the latter that he had been to Qufu and gained the trust of Duke Shupan of Lu, and was appointed as the general of the Lu State.
Ji Min was quite surprised by this, but he couldn't deny that after Huan Hu said this, the atmosphere during the conversation between the two was indeed much more harmonious than before - after all, they were colleagues after all.
"General Huan Hu came here today. I don't know why?"
After a few pleasantries, Ji Min asked Huan Hu about the purpose of his trip.
Seeing this, Huan Hu did not hide anything and told Ji Niao about the heavy damage he had done to Xiang Pei, the king of Xinyang in Chu State, in Peixian County two days ago. Ji Niao was surprised and worried at the same time.
Surprisingly, the soldiers under Huan Hu were really amazing, especially Chen Shou, who led 800 cavalry and dared to attack the camp of 100,000 soldiers under the command of Xiang Pei, Lord Xinyang of Chu, at night, and caused the Chu army to suffer heavy losses.
, with such strong soldiers and generals, he will be able to effectively help the Chu State to repel the Chu State's attack.
What is worrying is that there are still 100,000 Chu troops led by Chu State General Xiang Mo stationed in Ningyang County, which is close to Qufu, the capital of King Talu. But now, Chu State once again sent Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei to lead 100,000 troops.
Rushing to the State of Lu, this meant that the State of Lu had to face the attack of 200,000 Chu troops, and the situation was even more difficult.
If not for the fact that Chen Shou, the general under Huan Hu, attacked Chu Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei at night, which was indeed a brilliant battle and gave Ji Min hope to defeat the Chu army, otherwise he would have learned that Chu had once again sent an army of 100,000 troops.
, he really didn’t know how frightened he would be.
"...In view of this situation, Huan hopes to move his troops to Guicheng to avoid being attacked by the Chu and Wei armies."
Slowly, Huan Hu explained his intention.
"That's it." Ji Min suddenly understood and nodded.
He felt that Huan Hu's judgment was reasonable. After all, Wei and Chu were currently in an alliance. No one could guarantee whether the three Wei armies, namely the Dredging Army, the Chenggao Army, and the Fenxing Army stationed in Huling, would cooperate with the Chu Army.
Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei together,
Launching a flanking attack on Huan Hu's forces, considering that Huan Hu had gained the trust of their king of Lu and was awarded the position of general, and had severely damaged the Chu army in the past two days, he was indeed a strong soldier and a strong general. After a little hesitation, Ji Min
, and agreed.
After getting Ji Min's consent, Huan Hu immediately returned to Pei County. Before Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei understood his intentions, he withdrew his soldiers from Pei County and moved them in batches to the side of Weishan Lake.
In the lake, a boat from Xuecheng's side came to meet him.
Only when half of Huan Hu's tens of thousands of soldiers had crossed Weishan Lake in boats did Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei learn of the incident.
After learning about this, Xiang Pei's first reaction was to get angry: You Huan Hu have humiliated the face of our Chu army, how can you escape so easily?
Thinking of this, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, mobilized 40,000 troops and rushed to the Weishan Lake in an attempt to intercept Huan Hu.
An hour and a half later, when Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, arrived at Weishan Lake, there were still more than 10,000 troops under Huan Hu who had not yet crossed Weishan Lake.
Seeing this, Xiang Peiyuan, Lord of Xinyang, was about to lead his army to attack, and suddenly saw vague figures of people surging in the reeds by Weishan Lake in the distance, and on the other side, there was a cavalry eyeing them eagerly. This cavalry
The banner was clearly written with the words "Pei County Chen Shou".
"..."
Looking at the reeds from a distance, and then at the cavalry estimated to be nearly 2,000 people led by Huan Hu's general Chen Shou in the distance, Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei hesitated for a long time, but he didn't.
Dare to act rashly.
At this time, Huan Hu was actually riding among Chen Shou's cavalry. He saw Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, leading an army of 40,000 Chu troops, approaching menacingly. However, when he arrived, he did not dare to act rashly. He smiled and said to Chen Shou:
"The king of Chu State was probably frightened out of his wits by you two days ago. Although his number was several times that of mine, he didn't dare to make any move."
After hearing Huan Hu's words, Chen Shou smiled faintly, with an expression neither happy nor sad. He did not think that Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei was frightened by him. Even though he had nearly two thousand cavalry under his command at this time, Chu on the opposite side
The army has 40,000 people. As long as
It was not a sneak attack like the night attack a few days ago. Two thousand light cavalry were facing 40,000 infantry. Even if these 40,000 infantry were light infantry, the outcome would not be much better. Even if they could defeat the rear army, they would probably suffer heavy losses.
Therefore, Chen Shou believed that the most likely reason why Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei stood still was because Huan Hu had ordered an ambush in the reeds in advance.
Thinking of this, Chen Shou whispered to Huan Hu: "If Xiang Pei on the opposite side finds out that there are only a few hundred suspicious soldiers in the reeds... have you ever thought about what the outcome will be?"
"Haha." Huan Hu laughed, and did not answer Chen Shou directly, but said firmly: "That Xiang Pei just suffered a loss from you a few days ago, how could he not be wary of it? ... As for if he takes it seriously?
If you break it, you will feint and I will attack... He will definitely focus on you after suffering your loss and ignore me."
"...That doesn't necessarily mean we have any chance of winning."
Chen Shou snorted lightly, but didn't say anything else. After all, once Xiang Pei, the Lord of Xinyang on the opposite side, saw through their dubious tactics, this was indeed the only tactic.
Facts have proved that Chen Shou led 800 cavalry to sneak attack a few days ago, and failed to attack Peixian in the following days. This made Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei, who initially didn't care about Huan Hu's force, now really take this force into his own hands.
The warlord forces are regarded as powerful enemies.
Under this situation, just as Huan Hu guessed, Xinyang Lord Xiang Pei really didn't dare to take any action easily.
In this way, the two sides remained in a stalemate on the shore of Weishan Lake for half an hour. Then, dozens of ships from Xuecheng's side on the other side of the lake quietly arrived, led by eight warships, which were filled with crossbowmen.
They all cocked their crossbows and aimed at the Chu army far away on the lake shore.
"Let's go!"
After saying hello to Chen Shou, Huan Hu returned to the infantry by the river and directed the infantry to board Xuecheng's ship.
Seeing this scene from a distance, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, tightened the reins in his hands and wanted to immediately order an attack. However, he was concerned about Chen Shou's two thousand cavalrymen who were watching eagerly, and the eight ships in the lake filled with Lu crossbowmen.
Warships, coupled with the faint surging figures in the reeds, he hesitated for a long time and finally did not order an attack.
In this way, all the infantry under Huan Hu's command boarded Lu's ships, including hundreds of suspected soldiers who were ambushing in the reeds by the lake.
At this time, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, was secretly angry and discovered that the ambush he was so afraid of turned out to be only a few hundred people.
"If I had known this..."
He tightened his grip on the reins bitterly.
However, it was too late to say this at this time, because the infantry under Huan Hu had already boarded the ships of the Lu State, and the two thousand cavalry led by Chen Shou also quickly left northward - with the Lu State's
The boat will try to get this cavalry to the other side of the lake.
Looking at the boats gradually disappearing in the lake, and then looking at the backs of Chen Shou's two thousand cavalry, Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei felt depressed but had no choice but to turn back.
An hour later, as Huan Hu's forces all withdrew from Pei County, the Chu army occupied Pei County effortlessly, which finally gave Xinyang Jun Xiang Pei some comfort.
After acquiring Peixian County, Xiang Pei, Lord of Xinyang, renovated the city. At the same time, he sent people to urge the grain road, and on the other hand, he sent people to contact his Chu State General Xiang Mo who was stationed in Ningyang to make an appointment.
Join forces to attack the State of Lu.
Although the process was somewhat tortuous, the road was finally opened - "Huling" to the north of Peixian County was occupied by the Wei army, but in the context of the Wei-Chu alliance, this was not as big as the Chu army occupying Huling.
The only difference is that this city does not belong to Chu State.
At this time, Huan Hu also led his soldiers, got off the boat, and then, under the guidance of the Lu army in Xuecheng, arrived outside Xuecheng to prepare to build a military camp.
About an hour and a half later, two thousand cavalry led by Chen Shou were also received by Xuecheng's ships on the east side of Weishan Lake.
That night, Xuecheng City Shou Ji Min invited Huan Hu, Chen Shou and others to a banquet in the city.
It is worth mentioning that I don’t know if it was to win over Huan Hu or for some other purpose. During the banquet, Ji Min proudly wanted to give Huan Hu, Chen Shou and others a mansion in the city.
, However, Huan Hu politely refused as if he had no merit and no reward.
When I returned to the outside of the city at midnight, my soldiers had already set up a simple military camp outside the city.
In the commander's tent, Chen Shou glanced at Hua Shi and other girls who were helping Huan Hu make the bed, and asked Huan Hu: "During the banquet just now, why didn't you accept the mansion that Ji Min gave you... No matter how you think about it, it's better.
Are you going to stay in this little tent?"
"You don't understand." Huan Hu glanced at Chen Shou mysteriously. When he saw Chen Shou rolling up his sleeves, he quickly lowered his voice and explained: "Before I asked to see King Lu, I briefly inquired about the country of Lu.
National conditions, I learned that the relationship between the royal family and Sanhuan is not harmonious... The so-called Sanhuan refers to the three noble families in Lu State, among which is the "Ji family". Since I have decided to side with the royal family for the time being,
Then you can’t get too close to the Ji family.”
After listening to Huan Hu's explanation, Chen Shou realized that the national conditions of the Lu State were very different from those of the Wei State. The Ji Zhao family of the Wei State was very powerful. Whether it was the main family or the branch family, it was the lifeblood of the Wei State.
In fact, they are all in the hands of the Ji Zhao family, so many conflicts of interest actually occur within the Ji Zhao family; but the Lu State is different. The ministers of the Lu State, just talking about the three Huan, although it goes back hundreds of years
as well as
It is a branch of the royal family, so it can be called a public family, but the current royal family is not strong. Whether it is the loss of the Lu prince or the rise of the prince, they cannot suppress the Sanhuanqing clan, making the Lu country in danger of losing its royal power——
Zhao Run, the crown prince of the Wei Kingdom, with his current power and status, is unrivaled in the country. To put it bluntly, he can kill whoever he wants. However, in the Lu Kingdom, the Lu royal family does not have this absolute power.
.
Now that Huan Hu has joined the Lu State, as a general who has not yet expressed his stance on domestic politics, and who also has a heavy army, it is of course inevitable that he will be involved in the cooperation and confrontation between the royal family and San Huan, and will be involved in the conflict between the two.
Won over by other people.
It's just that Huan Hu has decisively chosen the side of the royal family headed by Lu Wang Gong Su Pan and Gong Zixing.
"Why?"
Chen Shou was a little puzzled by this, because according to Huan Hu, Lu Wang Gong Shupan's rights in the country of Lu were not absolute. At least San Huan could resist the king's order. In this case, Chen Shou himself felt that there was no guarantee between the two parties.
Everyone maintains a detached attitude, which should be the most beneficial attitude.
"Both sides?"
Huan Hu shook his head and said with a smile: "That will only arouse the hatred of both parties. Maybe the Lu State is hiring people at this time, and both parties will tolerate me swinging around. But once the Lu State lifts the restriction from the Chu State,
After the threat, I believe that the royal family and Sanhuan will work together to expel me, an outsider, and burn the bridge... So, if you and I want to gain a foothold in the Lu Kingdom, we must join one of them."
"Then why choose the royal family? Isn't the royal family the weaker party?" Chen Shou asked in confusion.
"Because the royal family has great righteousness!"
Licking his lips, Huan Hu lowered his voice and said: "If you and I defect to Sanhuan, we will be nothing more than subordinates at best. But if we defect to the royal family, the royal family will definitely use you and me to counter Sanhuan. At that time, you and I will be the king's subordinates."
Sir, with your bravery and my wisdom, it may not be impossible to replace Sanhuan in the future!"
Seeing Chen Shou suddenly enlightened and nodded, Jin Gou, who was watching coldly, couldn't help but glance at Huan Hu, and secretly praised Huan Hu for being calm, cunning, and ambitious. To be honest, it really suits him.
.
After thinking about it, Jin Gou suddenly interrupted: "Do you need me to take action? I see that Xuecheng is much more prosperous than Pei County..."
Of course Huan Hu understood the deep meaning of Jin Gou's words, grinned and said: "No! We are new here, it's best not to attract attention... When the time is right, try to make Ji Min die in the hands of the Chu people.
That’s it.”
"Hmm." Seeing that Huan Hu had already made a plan, Jin Gou nodded and said nothing more.
That night, Huan Hu wrote a letter in his commander's tent and sent it to Qufu, the capital of King Lu. Three days later, it was delivered to Prince Shupan of Lu.
Also arriving at almost the same time was a letter from Ji Min, the guardian of Xuecheng City. The contents of the letters between Huan Hu and Ji Min were almost the same, and they were nothing more than reporting to King Lu that Huan Hu's troops had moved to Xuecheng.
If we insist on saying that there is any difference between the two letters, then it is only the rhetoric and tone of the two: in Ji Min's letter, the words between the lines reveal the rapport and tacit understanding between him and Huan Hu, while in Huan Hu's letter, it is clear
To express his attitude, only Prince Talu will follow suit if he loses to Panma.
It's just a difference in political stance.
That day, when the prince came to meet his father, Prince Shupan of Lu was still reading the two letters with a frown on his face.
Seeing this, the young master asked for it curiously, and read the letter carefully. When he saw the paragraph "General Chen Shou under Huan Hu defeated Xiang Pei, the king of Xinyang in Chu State", he said happily: "General Huan Hu
The general named Chen Shou under his command is really brave. With only 800 cavalry, he dared to attack the camp of 100,000 Chu troops at night. This time our country has Huan Hu and Chen Shou, two generals, they will be able to repel Chu.
military!"
Hearing this, Duke Shupan of Lu nodded.
In fact, after hearing Huan Hu's self-bragging a few days ago, he still had some doubts in his heart, but now the facts have proved that the soldiers under Huan Hu are indeed brave. They are worthy of being Nangong Yao's old unit and the former sixth battalion level of the Wei garrison.
of elite.
From this it can be seen that Huan Hu's self-bragging that day was not entirely false. It did help his Lu State to resist the Chu army. At least, it was much stronger than his Lu State's soldiers.
But having said that, after reading Huan Hu’s letter, Lu Wanggong Shupan was also a little wary of Huan Hu: “...This Huan Hu found out about the discord between my royal family and San Huan from somewhere, and politely refused.
Xuecheng Ji Min's overtures and wooing only showed his loyalty to Gu... This man is too decisive and dangerous."
Young Master Xing was stunned and asked in confusion: "My father frowned just now, was he thinking about this matter?"
"Hmm." Lu Wanggong Shupan nodded and said seriously: "With Huan Hu's ability and the strength of his soldiers, he is completely worthy of being reused. Even after the Chu army is defeated in the future, he might as well
Use him to balance the power of San Huan. But this man makes Gu feel a little unfathomable. I am afraid that raising a tiger will cause trouble. If I call this Huan Hu, he will become a more troublesome existence than San Huan in the future..."
"More troublesome than San Huan?" Young Master Xing was stunned, and said with some humor: "Father, don't you think too highly of that Huan Hu? Although Huan Hu is indeed outstanding, but even so, what about him who has no foundation in our country?
Can you compete with Sanhuan?"
"..."
Duke Shupan, Prince of Lu, thought about it carefully and felt that what Prince Xing said made sense.
In fact, he himself didn't believe the idea that suddenly emerged from the bottom of his heart. Thinking about it carefully, how could Huan Hu, an outsider, be able to defeat San Huan?
Thinking of this, Prince Lu's doubts about Shupan were all gone, and he nodded and said: "It makes sense... Anyway, Huan Hu and the Chu army had already broken up with each other, so he simply issued an edict on his own, and he was canonized as a general, so that's fine.
This puts an end to San Huan’s idea of wooing Huan Hu.”
So on that day, Prince Shupan of Lu issued an edict to worship Huan Hu as the general.
At this point, Huan Hu suddenly became the general of Lu State, and the army under his command also became the army of Lu State.
This incident quickly spread throughout the country of Lu, and the people of Lu were of course very happy about it. After all, Prince Shupan of Lu did not hesitate to praise Huan Hu and his army in order to stabilize the chaos in the country.
Among the nobles of the Lu State, there were many who were dissatisfied with King Lu's edict. After all, in their view, Huan Hu's position as "general" came too easily - what the hell, it's just...
He was just a big thief who was wanted by the Wei State and had to live in exile in the eastern part of Song County. How could he become the general of his Lu State?
Of course, dissatisfaction is dissatisfaction, but under the current situation, no one would be stupid enough to jump out and oppose King Lu's edict. After all, the state of Lu really needs the power of Huan Hu to fight against the Chu army.
But when Lu defeated Chu's army someday, the situation might be very different.
Prince Shupan of Lu knew this, the nobles of Lu knew this, and Huan Hu also knew this.
However, Huan Hu didn't care about this, because he was confident that with this battle, he would gain a firm foothold in the Lu State and become an existence that the nobles of the Lu State could not expel later - not to mention, in order to resist San Huan, Prince Shupan of Lu
We will also provide him with some support.
Within a few days, the news spread to the Ningyang area.
Qi General Tian Dan had no comment on this. After all, he didn't know Huan Hu very well. Out of consideration for the interests of Lu, an ally, he hoped that Huan Hu would be a capable person so that when he had to do it after the spring of next year,
When he led his Qi army to withdraw from the state of Lu and returned to the state of Qi to fight the Chu army in Donghai County, Huan Hu was able to take over the war here and succeeded him to face the Chu general Xiang Mo.
Compared with Tian Dan, Chu State General Xiang Mo's mood was a bit complicated.
Because Xiang Mo valued Huan Hu and Chen Shou very much. Because of this, when he passed through Peixian County, he personally recruited the two of them, hoping that they would defect to his Chu State. Unexpectedly, Huan Hu and Chen Shou
Chen Shou actually defected to the State of Lu at this time, became its general, and also became his enemy.
"...I really underestimate your courage and ambition, Huan Hu, are you really so sure that you can stop Xiang Mo's army and protect the entire Lu Kingdom?"
Involuntarily, Xiang Mo sneered secretly.
It is true that he valued Huan Hu very much, but this did not prevent him from crushing him when the latter became his enemy.
Everything will be revealed in the spring next year.